By Rey E. Requejo

JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez is urging President Arroyo to grant powers to a group tasked to look into allegations of bribery in his department.

Gonzalez said the investigative panel must be clothed with powers to cite for contempt and issue subpoena as it investigates the bribery scandal surrounding the case against drug suspects Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson, popularly known as “Alabang Boys.”

As proposed, the panel will be chaired by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Carolina Griño-Aquino with former Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Raoul Victorino and San Beda Graduate School Dean Fr. Ranhilio Aquino as members.

Aquino headed the panel created by the Supreme Court to investigate the bribery scandal at the Court of Appeals, in connection with the corporate dispute over Manila Electric Co.

The investigation resulted in the dismissal of Justice Vicente Roxas and the suspension of Justice Jose Sabio Jr. A few other CA justices were reprimanded by the high court.

“The President has given me authority to constitute the panel but I think it is better that the President issues the executive order giving them subpoena, contempt, compulsion and recommendatory powers,” Gonzalez said in an interview.

Gonzalez said he expected the panel to start its work next week, even as he appealed to Congress to defer to the independent probe panel in the investigation of the controversy arising from the “Alabang Boys” case.

With the compulsive powers, the panel can compel witnesses, including Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Special Enforcement Services chief Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, to reveal the name of his classmate at the Philippine Military Academy, whom he claimed approached him and offered him a P3-million bribe just to let the “Alabang Boys” go scot-free.