By Rey E. Requejo and Roy Pelovello

THE lawyer of three affluent Alabang residents, arrested in an anti- drug operation, yesterday said he drafted an order for their release that was sent to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez for signing.

The admission by lawyer Felisberto Verano came a day after Gonzalez acknowledged there was something irregular about the way the case against Richard Brodett, 25, Joseph Tecson, 22, and Jorge Joseph, 23, was being handled.

Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor told a House panel investigating the case that Verano had sent him the draft order, and that he had forwarded it to Gonzalez.

On Dec. 23, 2008, he received a call from Verano asking if it were possible for the three suspects to go on a furlough over the holidays.

?I said I?m not going to entertain any calls from anybody on this case,? Blancaflor said.

Later, his secretary, Janet Payoyo, told him that Verano had sent a sealed envelope addressed ?To Secretary Raul Gonzalez through Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor.?

?She opened the envelope and it was a draft release order prepared by Attorney Verano, who told my secretary that he and Secretary Gonzalez already talked about the matter,? Blancaflor said.

?I said I don?t want anything to do with it because I find it very unusual,? he said.

Payoyo said that on Blancaflor?s instructions, she referred the document to State Prosecutor John Resado, who then said it was all right to send it to Gonzalez.

?When I asked Secretary Gonzalez, he said he had indeed talked to Attorney Verano, but he stressed that he flatly told the lawyer that he would not sign any release order for the three suspects,? Blancaflor said.

?I called Attorney Verano last night and he said he indeed requested Payoyo to forward the envelope to Gonzalez. He also admitted that Secretary Gonzalez categorically told him that he would not sign that order,? he said.

Para?aque Rep. Roilo Golez said Verano was apparently ?very presumptuous and bold? and exhibiting ?extreme temerity? in drafting the order on Justice Department letterhead.

Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zu?o acknowledged that this was not normal procedure.

Following Blancaflor?s testimony, Verano admitted in an interview that he drafted the release order.

Giving a different account of his conversation with the justice secretary, Verano said Gonzalez had said he would study the case, giving the lawyer hope and prompting him to prepare the draft order.

Gonzalez on Monday said he saw the draft order on his table for signature and noticed that his name was misspelled, a sign that the document had not been prepared internally.

Also at the House, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Dionisio Santiago and Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino said they were not accusing justice officials of accepting bribes to release the three suspects.

Zu?o and other Justice Department prosecutors had come under fire for a resolution dismissing the case, while Marcelino testified that he had rejected two bribes.

?The first time, [it was] a certain ?Jo Tec? who later identified himself as Joe Tecson and claimed to be a relative of one of the suspects. He asked me what?s the going rate and said maybe P3 million is enough,? Marcelino said.

The second time, a classmate from the Philippine Military Academy Class 1994 approached him to say somebody was offering him P3 million to drop the case.

?I told him, you know me, and I turned it down outright,? Marcelino said in his testimony. He refused to identify his classmate, but said he was willing to do it in executive session.

Marcelino said he did not know the source of rumors that justice officials had been offered a P50-million bribe to dismiss the case.

After Marcelino?s testimony, Joselito Tecson, the father of one of the suspects, denied calling Marcelino and offering him a bribe.

?I never called him up and I never offered them money,? Tecson said. ?The PDEA should be more responsible with their accusations.?

Santiago testified that when he received information about a P20-million bribe offer, he allowed the information to be leaked to the press to discourage any bribery attempts.

?We are not accusing the DoJ [people of accepting the bribe]. I am not accusing you,? Santiago said, addressing Zu?o.

But both Santiago and Marcelino said they were disappointed when prosecutors recommended that the case be dismissed, when they had told anti-drug agents earlier that they had an airtight case.

The laywers for Brodett, Tecson and Joseph yesterday filed a petition for habeas corpus before the Court of Appeals seeking to compel the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to release them.

In a 10-page petition, they asked the court to order the agency to show cause for the restraint and detention of the suspects, despite the dismissal of the charges against them by the Justice Department on Dec. 2, 2008.

Santiago, Marcelino and lawyer Alvaro Lazaro were named respondents.

Brodett, Tecson and Joseph were arrested by anti-drug agents following sting operations in Alabang, Muntinlupa and Araneta Center in Quezon City on Sept. 20. Arlie Calalo