Ochoa tests positive for COVID-19, misses PDEA leak probe anew

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. (Joseph Agcaoili)

MANILA, Philippines — Former Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. failed to attend a Senate probe anew Monday after he contracted the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Ochoa was also a no-show during last week’s Senate committee hearing on public order, supposedly due to a “scheduling conflict.”

READ: Maricel Soriano on Senate’s PDEA leaks probe: ‘Nakakakaba, nakakatakot’

At the start of the hearing, the committee secretary informed the body that it had received a letter and a medical certificate from Ochoa “indicating that he’s positive [for] COVID.”

The committee headed by Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa is investigating alleged leaked Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) documents linking certain personalities to illegal drugs.

The purported documents, an authority to operate and a pre-operation report, were supposedly issued on March 11, 2012, and signed by a former PDEA agent, Jonathan Morales.

Morales dragged Ochoa into the controversy, saying the former executive secretary allegedly ordered not to proceed with the 2012 operation.

The PDEA, however, has already debunked the existence of the alleged leaked documents.

“PDEA ran a check through its Plans and Operations Reports Management Information System, or PORMIS and found that no such operation was logged on said date,” the agency said in an earlier statement.