Rep.

Singson pleads guilty to drugs raps

HONG KONG—Philippine Rep. Ronald Singson Monday

pleaded guilty to trafficking drugs into Hong Kong last year
after a cocaine binge in Manila was followed by a spur-of-
the-moment decision to head to the gambling enclave of
Macau.

The court heard testimony that the lawmaker hid the drug in
his underpants to elude airport security.

Singson was not immediately sentenced in Hong Kong’s

District Court pending testimony on whether he planned on
consuming the cocaine or sharing it with others—a factor
that could influence the length of his sentence.

He was caught carrying cocaine at the southern Chinese

city’s international airport in July. Drug trafficking carries a
maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of HK$5
million ($640,000 or about P28 million).

Under Hong Kong law, the mere act of bringing drugs to the territory is defined as trafficking,
regardless of whether the drugs are intended for personal use or for sale or distribution.

The 42-year-old legislator was arrested at Hong Kong’s international airport by customs officers
on July 11, 2010. He admitted to bringing 6.67 grams of cocaine and two tablets of the narcotic
Nitrazepam into the city. The cocaine was hidden in his underpants.

The total value of the cocaine was about $2,000.

Singson pleaded for leniency, apologizing to the judge and the people of Hong Kong.

The sentencing hearing was set to continue on Tuesday.

Singson is the son of Luis “Chavit” Singson, governor of Ilocos Sur province in the Philippines
whose testimony in the corruption trial of his former friend, ex-President Joseph Estrada, helped
convict the ousted leader in 2007 and secure a life prison term. Estrada was later pardoned.

Singson said he used cocaine on and off since 2004, and also acknowledged using amphetamines
in his 20s.

Quarrel with girlfriend

Singson said he went on a cocaine-and-gambling binge after attending an Usher concert in

Manila he helped stage last July 9, frustrated by an argument with his girlfriend. He then decided
to join a friend attending a poker tournament in Macau and was arrested while transiting through
Hong Kong.

Singson, who is on bail, added he was undergoing rehabilitation for his drug addiction.

The lawmaker, a music promoter whose business interests include the music station Channel V
in the Philippines, denied any plan to resell the drugs.

“(They) were solely for his own consumption. He had no intention of engaging in commercial or
social trafficking,” Singson’s lawyer John Reading told Judge Joseph Yau.

Snorted daily

Singson said he had the drugs because of “political pressures,” “pressure of faltering businesses”
and relationship problems, adding that he was suffering from depression.

“Even though I was successful in my own right, I didn’t feel happy,” he said.

He testified that he snorted cocaine daily, consuming between four and five grams a day, costing
him as much as P25,000, in several monthlong binges starting in 2004.

“Whenever I took (cocaine), I took large amounts, frequently every day,” he told the court.

Big mistake

“I apologize to the people of Hong Kong,” Singson said. “This was a very big mistake and in the
process, I have ruined my name and reputation, embarrassing my family and causing pain to my
girlfriend.”

Singson added: “I’ve never been more remorseful in my life. This is just the beginning of my
problems. Not knowing my fate back home has caused me a great deal of pain.”

“I ask you to find it in your heart to … sentence me with leniency. There’s nothing more I want
than to go on with my life,” he said.

“You are convicted on your own plea and admission of the facts,” Hong Kong Judge Yau told
Singson in a packed courtroom.

‘A setup’

Last week, the original trial judge stood down from the case after receiving a letter he said
contained “prejudicial allegations” against the lawmaker, and ordered the letter to be kept sealed.

Singson juggles jobs promoting US rhythm and blues acts in the Philippines with holding a
parliamentary seat.
He won a second three-year term in the House of Representatives in May, in the seat long held
by his family.

The 69-year-old Chavit Singson denied claims his son was a drug dealer. “It’s a setup,” he told
reporters in August when he was in Hong Kong to attend his son’s bail hearing.

Tested negative

“So far so good,” the elder Singson said in a phone interview from Hong Kong, referring to the
court proceedings.

“The problem is he (Ronald) had tested negative for drug use,” Chavit Singson said. “If we
cannot prove that he is a user, the judge has no choice but to charge him with trafficking because
if he won’t use it for himself, then he would sell it. It’s tough.”

Governor Singson said he was hoping his son would convince the judge that the cocaine was for
his own use and he would be charged only with possession. He said the penalty for this was
deportation.

But if the judge rejected his claim that he was a user, Singson said that his son could spend a
long time in jail for trafficking.

No room in Congress

While Governor Singson has asked lawmakers to wait for the resolution of his son’s case before
acting on calls for his ouster from the House of Representatives, Deputy Minority Leader and
Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said that being a confessed drug user was enough for the
House to expel him.

“I still maintain my position that any one who violates the law has no place in Congress. Though
he is not guilty in our own country, as legislator, delicadeza and moral values should be at the
forefront when one is a public servant,” Magsaysay said.

She urged Congressman Singson to resign rather than go through a “divisive” expulsion process
which would need two-thirds of the House’s 287 members to be carried out.

The chair of the committee on justice, Iloilo Rep. Neil Tupas, said the House should immediately
start its ethics probe on Singson considering the damage the drug bust has done to the House’s
reputation.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello said: “I think this is a blot on the reputation of the House.
I feel Representative Singson should resign instead of putting the House through the painful
process of prosecuting and throwing him out on ethics charges. His doing so might shame and
persuade others with higher crimes to resign as well.” Reports from Associated Press, Agence
France-Presse and Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.