Jonathan Tiongco

Jonathan Tiongco, 36, died of multiple fractures early Saturday (June 23, 2007) after his Toyota Avanza car (ZHE 466) collided with a dump truck along Commonwealth Avenue. He was brought to the Far Eastern University Hospital in Fairview for treatment but died eventually. He was born in Jaro, Iloilo and lived in Fairview, Quezon City and San Fernando, Pampanga. He is survived by his wife Rowena and their four children. During the height of the Hello Garci controversy, then Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Mike Defensor presented Tiongco to the media to prove that the Hello Garci tapes have been tampered with. Tiongco had a certificate of eligibility as a sound engineer, which according to him was issued in Japan. He was also a rapper and recording artist in the 1980s. He composed and arranged his album, which was produced by Vicor Music Corporation. He also said he used to be a disc jockey in various clubs in Manila, and was called DJ JT. In November 2005, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) reported on its website that Tiongco was facing a string of criminal cases including homicide, multiple attempted murder, and illegal possession of firearms. Tiongco claimed all these cases had been dismissed, except homicide which he said remained in trial as of 2005. Tiongco’s wife Rona asked a Quezon City court to order the deletion or removal of the article from the PCIJ site, claiming said she found "revolting" a quote from a police dossier cited in the PCIJ article describing her husband as a man with a "checkered past [with] a string of criminal cases against him, ranging from grave threats to murder." The court issued a temporary order against the PCIJ. It was the first TRO ever issued in the Philippines against a website. Earlier this year, Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco and State Prosecutor Diosdado Solidum Jr. charged Tiongco with corruption of public officials and obstruction of justice for allegedly offering "goodwill" money in exchange for a softening of their stance on former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste, who is in jail for killing his aide. Tiongco had been also involved in various controversial cases in the past. In May 17, 2005, he faced the Commission on Appointments in an attempt to block the appointment of Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes. It was Tiongco, however, who, was put on the hot seat. The following month, he went to the Department of Justice with a man he claimed could be involved in a planned bombing. But Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ignored him, saying the bombing hasn’t occurred yet anyway. When the Hello Garci scandal broke out in June 2005, Jonathan Tiongco went to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and volunteered his supposed expertise in sound engineering. In his affidavit, he claimed that in the year 2000, he was “recruited as intelligence consultant and deep penetration agent for the International Federation of the Phonograhic Industry (IFPI)" and was “also assigned on a few high risk and confidential operations to infiltrate a big triad in Hong Kong and Macau." He also claimed that he has colleagues abroad who gave him a CD of a fake conversation about viagra between US President Bill Clinton and US Senator Bob Dole. This CD, he said, proliferated during the Clinton impeachment. Tiongco also said in his affidavit he is a third cousin of actress and opposition figure Susan Roces, wife or Fernando Poe Jr., whom Tiongco later claimed was killed through a political assassination staged by a faction in the opposition with the help of an international intelligence agent. He said Poe was poisoned to death using a nerve agent, which caused a chemical reaction that resulted in blood clotting that led to a fatal stroke. He also filed wiretapping and other cases against Sens. Panfilo Lacson and Alfredo Lim, Speaker Jose de Venecia, Reps. Francis Escudero, Gilbert Remulla, Teodoro Locsin, at Roilo Golez for playing and allowing the distribution of wiretapped materials during the House inquiry on hello Garci. In August 2005, Tiongco also tried to file before the DOJ charges of conspiracy to commit sedition, insurrection and obstruction of justice against opposition figures led by Senator Lacson. The DOJ did not accept the complaint because it should have had a referral from the PNP-CIDG or NBI.