(Eagle News) — Several senators have links to Kenneth Dong, the man tagged as the middleman in the P6.4-billion drug shipment that entered the country in May, but they vowed they would not condone any wrongdoing.
Senators Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, Juan Miguel Zubiri admitted on Wednesday they served as sponsors to the wedding of Dong, who appeared for the first time before the Senate blue ribbon committee investigating the entry of the contraband.
In a statement, Hontiveros said Senator Ralph Recto had also been invited to serve as Dong’s sponsor.
As for Senator Joel Villanueva, he said Dong was “one of the businessmen who contributed when (he) was doing fund-raising activities” during the campaign.
Meeting Dong
Villanueva said he met Dong on June 30, 2011, when he, the then-Technical Education Skills Development Authority secretary general, was invited to grace the opening of the Agricultural and Tourism Expo.
Pangilinan said he met Dong in the same exposition when, as chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food during his second term as senator, he was invited by the alleged middleman to be the summit keynote speaker.
As for Hontiveros, she said she met Dong in 2012, and thought he was a “legitimate businessman” who sold industrial weighing scales.
At one point, she said Dong “had the chance to help in our Yolanda relief operations and campaign.”
Zubiri said he considered Dong his “friend” but that he hadn’t spoken to him “close to eight months ago.”
“…I don’t know what his dealings are and his business details except for his ownership of Asuki industrial weighing scales,” Zubiri said.
Senators to get to bottom of issue
According to Villanueva, while he did not mind inhibiting from the probe, “(he) cannot just sit here and not take part (in) getting to the bottom of this issue.”
Pangilinan added they would not “condone wrongdoing.”
“We believe those wrongly accused should be absolved and those guilty be held to account regardless of who they are,” Pangilinan said.
“I will not tolerate any accusations of irregularity that will smear my personal integrity and record of service to the people. Inaasahan ko na pawang katotohanan lamang at walang halong kasinungalingan ang sasabihin ni (Dong) sa Senate blue ribbon committee hearing para sagutin ang mga seryosong akusasyon laban sa kaniya,” Hontiveros said.
Dong is the supposed link to Richard Tan, believed to be the importer of some 604 kilos of illegal drugs from China to Manila.
