Chavit admits lawmaker-son is in HK jail on drug raps

(Update - 11:52 pm) At first denying knowledge that his congressman-son Ronald was arrested and now detained in Hong Kong on charges of illegal drug possession, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson finally admitted on Saturday evening that the reports are indeed true. “I hope he’s deported because it was just a small amount found in his possession," Chavit said in Filipino, in an exclusive interview aired on ABS-CBN. Newspaper reports earlier said, citing Hong Kong court records, that a certain Ronald Singson was arrested at the Customs Arrival Hall of Chek Lap Kok International Airport on July 11, where he yielded 26.1 grams of cocaine and two tablets of diazepam, more commonly known as the brand-name Valium. Initial confusion arose whether the man arrested in Hong Kong was the same person as Chavit's son, because the court records showed Ronald's middle name as "Versoza," while Chavit’s son uses "Verzosa." In an earlier interview by Aubrey Carampel aired on QTV's Balitanghali, Chavit had denied that his son, who is a reelected congressman representing Ilocos Sur’s 1st district, was in Hong Kong, adding that Ronald went to Mongolia after stopping by Macau. "Hindi ko alam. Wala pa akong alam tungkol doon (I don’t know. I know nothing about that.) We're still verifying everything," Singson said. Chavit said his son flew to Macau for a concert of R&B singer Usher. Ronald and friend Jomari Yllana co-produced Usher's recent concert in Manila. "Dapat siya [Ronald] na ang sasagot pagdating niya dito. He is in a better position to answer those questions... Nasa edad na siya. Mas maganda siya ang sasagot," he said. (Ronald should be the one to answer once he arrives here. He is in a better position to answer those questions... He’s old enough. It’s better that he makes the clarification.) The younger Singson was set to appear at the Tsuen Wan court on August 19. He has already appeared in court but has yet to enter a plea, news reports said. According to Chavit, all he knew was that his son's trip abroad was the result of a quarrel with his rumored girlfriend, GMA Kapuso star Lovie Poe.
"Ang alam ko lang, hindi sila magkaintindihan ni Lovie Poe. Nagkatampuhan, tapos umalis na," Chavit said. (What I know is that he had a misunderstanding with Lovie Poe. They had a spat, then he left.) “Humihingi ako ng paumanhin sa lahat at hindi magandang ehemplo ang nangyaring ito hopefully magsisilbing leksiyon sa lahat (I apologize to everyone since this incident is not a good example and should serve as a lesson for all)," Singson said in the exclusive ABS-CBN interview. GMANews.TV tried to contact the Department of Foreign Affairs for official confirmation, but spokesperson Ed Malaya has no information regarding the matter as of posting time. The Singsons are the dominant political clan in Ilocos Sur and also exercised varying degrees of political influence at the national level during the Estrada and Arroyo administrations. Chavit served as Ilocos Sur congressman from 1987 to 1992, and remained as a close confidante of long-time friend Joseph Estrada during most of his presidency from 1998 to 2000. Chavit was thrown into the spotlight in 2000 when he severed his ties with Estrada and exposed the famous jueteng bribery scandal that triggered the former president’s impeachment and eventually led to his downfall in 2001.—JV, GMANews.TV