MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) One of the suspects involved in the controversial drug case is a user and a pusher, relatives disclosed Wednesday.

Anthony Brodett, cousin of Richard Brodett, told lawmakers at the House of Representatives investigating the case that he had known his cousin since they were small and that even the mother was a user.

Before the young Brodett testified Wednesday at the resumption of the inquiry by the committee on dangerous drugs, his father and former basketball player, and uncle of the suspect, Dave Brodett, appealed to his brother, Butch, and wife, Myra, to tell the truth.

“Don’t close your eyes to the truth,” Dave Brodett said, breaking into tears.

“I’ve known him since we were small, we grew up together. Since 16, gumagamit na iyan [he has been a user],” Anthony Brodett said.

He said he was saying this now because “it would come out in the media that Richard was a quiet boy.” “It’s really bothering you because they could lie straight,” he added.

“Ayaw kong maging hypocrite [I don’t want to be a hypocrite]. Tinuturuan akong gumamit [He was even teaching me to be a user],” he said.

He said his cousin’s parents were not doing anything. “Even the mother is a user,” Brodett said in Filipino.

“I used to stay in their house, drugs are all over the place,” he said, adding that his cousin used marijuana.

Brodett also said that his cousin had a record at the Land Transportation Office. A drug test that he took turned out positive, he added.

Brodett said his cousin’s mother would even ask her son to go to Sagada to get marijuana.

Earlier in the hearing, Felisberto Verano Jr., counsel for Brodett and Joseph Tecson, said he was just "overzealous" in helping his clients spend Christmas out of jail, referring to his initiative to draft the release order for Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to sign.

Verano admitted Tuesday that he drafted the order after prosecutors dismissed the case against his clients and Jorge Joseph -- all of who were arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in September 2008 for possession of Ecstasy, marijuana, and cocaine.

The three suspects, who have reported as belonging to prominent families, have detained at PDEA since their arrest.

Anti-narcotics agents who arrested Brodett, Tecson, and Joseph disclosed bribe offers ranging from P3 million to P50 million in exchange for the release of the three.

"I think I was a little bit overzealous in my work to provide service to my client," Verano told the hearing.

Verano said he drafted the release order, which he sent through justice undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor and which was forwarded to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez December 24, hoping that the secretary will sign it.

Gonzalez met with Verano on December 23 but turned down the lawyer’s request to sign the order.

Gonzalez, who was also present in the hearing, said he refused to sign the release order because he has yet to read the resolution.

Verano said he wanted his clients released before Christmas to be reunited with the families.

"I did not fake anything, I just provided the convenience of having it ready so when he [Gonzalez] changes his mind he can sign it and we can rush to PDEA [to have the suspects released]," Verano said.

On questioning by Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez, Verano acknowledged that what he did was not normal procedure in the DOJ.

Gonzalez also said that this was the first time he encountered such incident and that he believed "there was some ethical issue" involved in the matter.