Charges filed vs execs of firm in Ayala Alabang shabu lab case

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said Tuesday it has filed drug charges against officers of Fuerte Holdings Inc., the registered owner of a property in Ayala Alabang Village that was found last month to be sheltering a narcotics laboratory.

In a press statement, PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. said the agency’s legal and prosecution service filed a supplemental affidavit with the Muntinlupa City prosecutor’s office against five officers and  two estate administrators for various drug violations.

But the names of the Fuerte Holdings executives were not immediately revealed in the PDEA statement.

“As officers of Fuerte [Holdings, Inc] and estate administrators, they are primarily responsible in ensuring that the property under their administration or management is not being utilized for illegal purposes,” Gutierrez said.

“The negligence on their part to inspect the said property tolerated the commission of the crime, in this case the manufacture of shabu,” he said, adding that they should be held liable as “co-principals.”

On Jan. 6, PDEA agents raided a one-hectare compound on Acacia, arrested five Chinese suspects and seized truckloads of drug paraphernalia and equipment used for the laboratory.

Investigators later discovered that the house leased by the suspects for P260,000 a month was registered under the name of Fuerte Holdings, a company that used to be controlled by the late philanthropist Consuelo “Chito” Madrigal-Collantes, whose multibillion-peso estate is the subject of a convoluted ownership dispute.

Five suspects who hailed from Hong Kong were arrested during that raid and charged with drug manufacture and possession of drugs and drug-making equipment: Lam Ka Chun, 51; Ken Ming Chao, with alias Lam Tse Kin, 49; Kwok Chi Keung, 42; Choi Yiu Chun, 33; and Choi Yiu Kit, 33.

Gutierrez said the agency was convinced that the Fuerte Holdings officers and estate administrators could be held liable for violations of certain provisions of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

These are Section 8 (manufacture of dangerous drugs), Section 11 (possession of dangerous drugs), and Section 12 (possession of equipment for dangerous drugs), in relation to Section 30 (criminal liability of officers of partnerships, corporations, associations or other juridical entities), under Article II of Republic Act 9165.