In an article titled “Corpus, Lacson ‘war’ heats up,” Carlito Pablo, Armand N. Nocum, and Jerome Aning of the Inquirer News Service report on the ongoing furor in the Philippines arising from allegations of corruption made by whistleblower Angelo Manaway, AKA “Ador.” Excerpt:
IT’S BEGINNING to look like a face-off between Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Col. Victor Corpus.
Lacson yesterday urged Corpus, military intelligence chief, to admit that he was the handler of Angelo Ador alias Ador, who accused Lacson of plotting to kidnap prominent people and to assassinate others to destabilize the Macapagal administration.
But Corpus said he would resign and retire if Ador was found to be a government stooge let loose to discredit Lacson.
The word war between Lacson and Corpus flared as Ador, who claims to be a former civilian agent of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), reportedly passed a second lie detector test.
Both Ador and Corpus, head of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp), urged Lacson to undergo a lie detector test to determine who among them were telling the truth.
“Corpus should stop making these denials, lest he be called a liar,” said Lacson, who concurrently headed the Philippine National Police (PNP) and PAOCTF.
…
Corpus noted that Ador had passed the polygraph test administered by the National Bureau of Investigation.
“In the case of Ping, will he pass a lie detector test?” Corpus said.
“If the public really wants to know the real score, why don’t the two of them simultaneously undergo a polygraph test?” the Isafp chief said.
Corpus said he himself was willing to undergo a lie detector test if only to prove that he was not ordering Ador to hit Lacson.
“Let’s just see each other in court,” Corpus said, referring to Lacson.
Buoyed by the results of the polygraph test, Ador disclosed that Lacson had also been involved in smuggling.
…
[Ador] dared Lacson to keep his word and take the lie detector test. “Face me like a man.”
“Sir, take the lie detector test soon and do it in front of the media so that the results will not be changed,” Ador said.
Lacson had said that he would submit to a polygraph test if Ador had passed the test.
Lacson yesterday said there was no need for him to take the test because, according to him, Ador was not telling the truth.
The former PNP chief said he would consider undergoing a polygraph test only if Ador and Corpus had passed it.
The Philippine public should be concerned that pseudoscientific polygraph “tests” are being made the basis for determining the truth or falsity of grave allegations. This situation would be laughable were it not so serious.