MANILA, Philippines—Richard “Butch” Brodett Sr. and his wife Myra on Thursday accused Dave and Marissa Brodett of appearing at a hearing of the House committee on illegal drugs out of revenge triggered by a longstanding family feud over money.

In a statement sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Myra denied allegations made by the other Brodetts of substance abuse, saying “I do not use or push drugs and neither does my son (Richard).”

“This is all about money,” Richard’s parents said, claiming that they and the other couple had been involved in a feud for more than 10 years over the matter.

Myra claimed that despite the family feud, she allowed Dave and Marissa free use for two years of condominium units in West Ayala that she inherited from her side of the family.

The suspect’s parents alleged that they paid association dues and other bills for the “PDEA informants.”

“From late 2004 to 2005, Marissa caused several incidents which led to us filing complaints against her, such as for harassment, carnapping, alarm and scandal, ejectment and attempted kidnapping. We then stopped all financial support,” Butch and Myra said in their statement.

“They were angry when we stopped paying for all their bills and they sought to get back at us. This is the motive behind their actions,” Butch and Myra said.

“Obviously, the only purpose why they (Dave and Marissa) went to Congress was to viciously malign our family,” said Butch and Myra, parents of Richard, one of the three “Alabang Boys” arrested by narcotics agents in September in a buy-bust operation.

“There has been a longstanding family feud and the motive of Dave and Marissa Brodett to come out in Congress is purely vengeance,” the couple said.

Dave, a former basketball player and actor, and Butch are brothers.

Of the seven Brodett siblings, five are boys. Butch is the second eldest, followed by Dave, then Philip, Felisberto Verano Jr., counsel of Richard Brodett and Joseph Tecson, said.

According to Verano, Philip, a former director and vice president of government-sequestered firm Philcomsat Holdings Corp., had been extending financial support to Dave.

The support included a “weekly P2,000” allowance and money for the schooling of Dave’s daughter, he said. Philip had also given Dave a car, the lawyer added.

Verano’s disclosures, however, could not be independently verified.

The lawyer said that, like Butch, Philip was angered by Dave’s testimony at the House hearing on Wednesday.

Dave and his son Anthony said at Wednesday’s hearing of the House committee on dangerous drugs that Richard and his mother were drug users.

PDEA informants

But Butch and Myra pointed out that Dave and his wife were invited to the House of Representatives as resource persons of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency because they allegedly were the ones who had sent a text message to PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago accusing him of receiving a bribe.

Dave and his wife also reportedly “informed” the PDEA about the alleged P50-million payoff to the Department of Justice, Butch and Myra said.

The PDEA has claimed that it received information that P50 million changed hands that resulted in state prosecutors recommending the dismissal of charges against Richard, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson.

“They (Dave and Marissa Brodett) were brought to Congress by the PDEA supposedly to voluntarily give evidence about the P50-million bribery; instead, they immediately hurled accusations against our family, and when asked pointblank about the issue at hand—bribery, all of a sudden, they wanted to consult their lawyer,” Butch and Myra said in their statement.

The couple said the purpose of the other Brodett couple in appearing before the House committee was “to viciously malign our family.”

Unverified

Butch and Myra lamented that the credibility of Dave and Marissa as informants in the alleged bribery was never verified before news of the allegation broke out. Jeannette I. Andrade