In 2016, then-President Rodrigo Duterte issued directives to the police in General Santos City regarding his campaign against illegal drugs.

Documents that emerged on social media indicated that Marcos Jr. was the target of an unexecuted anti-drug operation in 2012.

During the Senate hearing, Morales, under oath, claimed that he had prepared the documents circulating online, but the "confidential" case files he submitted to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency were missing. He insisted he had no idea where the documents originated but asserted they were "genuine."

He stated that then-Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa stopped the arrest of Marcos Jr. in 2012. According to the Philippine government system, the Executive Secretary is in charge of all affairs of the President's Office, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operates under its supervision.