House panel orders Pampanga warehouse owner to attend probe on drug case

Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop during one of the House hearings on illegal drugs in this photo taken on May 17, 2023. (Photo from a video posted on the Facebook page of the House of Representatives)

MANILA, Philippines — The House Committee on Dangerous drugs has ordered the owner of a warehouse in Pampanga — where one of the two recent high-profile drug seizures happened — to attend its hearing on the issue.

Before the hearing ended on Monday, the House panel approved the motion of Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop to issue a subpoena against warehouse owner and Empire 999 Realty Corporation’s Willy Ong — who did not show up

Acop made the motion on behalf of Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel, who cannot make motions as he is not a member of the committee.

“I think this Mr. Willy Ong is the main character in this case. He’s one of the central figures, and I strongly suggest since we have already invited him or rather this committee has already invited him but unfortunately, he did not show up […] Because we need him here, he is the main actor here, the others are just supporting actors only,” Pimentel said.

“Since the honorable Pimentel is not a member of this committee and is not allowed to file a motion, may this representation move that we invite Mr. Willy Ong in the next hearing of this committee, so moved,” Acop said in his motion, which was seconded?

The said panel is investigating two anti-drug operations conducted two months apart: the first is the discovery of crystal meth or shabu worth P1.3 billion in an abandoned car in Mabalacat City, Pampanga, last August 25; and the seizure of over P3.6 billion worth of shabu from the Mexico, Pampanga warehouse last September 27.

READ: House probe into multi-billion Pampanga drug haul pushed 

Reports from the Bureau of Customs showed that they and other partner agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency conducted a controlled delivery operation, where they allowed a shipment from Thailand to be delivered from the Port of Subic.

READ: PDEA finds no link between two recent major drug busts in Pampanga 

Authorities then tracked it down to the warehouse — which was revealed during the hearing to be owned by Ong.  During the discussions, officials from Barangay San Jose Malino where the warehouse was located, said that no business was being conducted at the establishment, as it has not yet earned a business permit from the municipal government.

However, Pimentel eventually asked who owned the land where the warehouse was built, and former Mexico mayor Teddy Tumang admitted that Ong bought it from his brother.

The lawmaker then asked the committee to double-check where the warehouse was built to ascertain if local government officials were involved in the issue.

Regarding this, Pimentel also moved to issue a subpoena against a certain Roy Gomez, who worked for the assessor’s office in Mexico, as he was believed to be the one that facilitated the sale of the land.

“Since likewise Mr. Roy Gomez has not shown up, may I also suggest that he be issued a subpoena for him to attend during the next hearing?” Pimentel said.

“Again for the same reason may I respectfully move that we invite Mr. Gomez or issue a subpoena so that Mr. Gomez will attend the next hearing of this committee, so moved,” Acop replied.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairperson and Administrator Jonathan Tan was also ordered to appear before the House, as all of them were invited but failed to show up.

Committee chair and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers clarified that a subpoena was issued because the resource persons invited appeared to have disregarded the panel’s invitations.

“As to the issuance of a subpoena. The procedure is we will issue an invitation, and if the invitation is not honored, then the committee is compelled to issue a subpoena. In this case, we issued an invitation, we sent out invitations to Mr. Willy Ong and Mr. Roy Gomez, but there was no acknowledgment on their part.  Therefore the committee would seek the approval of the Office of the Speaker to issue a subpoena to the said personalities,” Barbers said.

JPV