The Department of Justice (DoJ) should secure and preserve the testimonies of the essential witnesses on the anomalous drug buy-bust operation in Mexico, Pampanga, Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon said.

In an interview on Wednesday, Gordon said he wanted to secure the testimonies of Police Staff Sergeants Jerome Bugarin, Marlon de la Cruz and Jackson Mariano by executing their affidavits before the court.

“I just talked with (Justice) Sec. Meynard (Guevarra) and I asked him to follow up with the letter, the policemen referred by (retired) Gen. (Benjamin) Magalong (they) really need protection,” he noted.

“Much more than the protection of the witnesses, I want their testimonies perpetuated. They will go to the court with the affidavit, in case something happens, hopefully not, that will be admissible in court,” Gordon stressed.

The three policemen were the ones who captured an alleged foreign drug trafficker, Johnson Lee, along with some barangay officials during the drug operation.

However, Lee has escaped before the 13 alleged ninja cops led by Supt. Rodney Baloyo IV raided his residence in Mexico, Pampanga.

Baloyo’s team had reported 38 kilograms but upon the reinvestigation of former CIDG Chief Benjamin Magalong, they have found out the drugs inside the raided house weighed 200 kilograms.

The 13-man team was also paid P50 million in exchange of Lee’s freedom. Instead of Lee, another foreign national, Ding Wenkun, was presented as suspect by Baloyo’s group.

“It’s a perpetuation of testimony, that’s the legal term we use, whatever happens to the witness his testimony is already there,” Gordon further explained.