Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 9) – The House Committee on Dangerous Drugs will issue a subpoena for the owner of a warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga where authorities last month seized 530 kilograms of shabu with an estimated street value of ₱3.6 billion.
The name “Willy Ong” surfaced during the panel’s hearing Monday on the series of major drug hauls in Pampanga in recent months. Ong is the owner of the warehouse in Barangay San Jose Malino.
Local officials said Ong applied for a building permit for the warehouse in October 2022. He reportedly did not go into the details of his business or why he wanted to build the facility in Mexico town.
Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel described Ong as a “main character” in the case.
“I strongly suggest that this committee should issue a subpoena to Mr. Willy Ong because kailangan natin siya (because we need him),” Pimentel said.
“Siya ang isang actor dito eh, ‘yung iba supporting actor lang (he’ s an actor here, and the others are just support actors). Parang ‘yung (it’ s as if the) municipality of Mexico is very privy to the activities of Mr. Willy Ong, starting from the barangay all the way up to municipality,” he added.
Surigao Del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the panel will seek the approval of House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s office for the issuance of a subpoena for Ong.
The panel also approved a motion to summon Roy Gomez, a former local employee who supposedly signed the assessment for Ong’s permit, as well as former Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman Jonathan Tan.
Former Mexico town mayor Teddy Tumang said Gomez had worked “on the side” for Ong as a facilitator of permits.
Tan, meanwhile, was summoned since the shabu haul seized in Ong’s warehouse entered through the Subic Bay freeport.
Officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Bureau of Customs later briefed the committee about sensitive details of their recent operations in Pampanga in a closed door session.
During the public hearing, NBI officials also clarified that the contraband discovered inside an abandoned vehicle outside a supermarket in Mabalacat, Pampanga last August was not shabu, contrary to what was reported by the media.
Ross Jonathan Galicia, head of the NBI’s task force against illegal drugs, said the vehicle contained tea bags filled with dimethyl sulfone, an ingredient for making shabu.
“We did not claim that those substances found were shabu. The media came out that it was suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride, but the NBI never claimed those were shabu,” Galicia told the panel.
