Ex-Pampanga mayor may be cited in contempt for leaking executive session talks

MANILA, Philippines — The former mayor of Mexico, Pampanga may be cited in contempt after he leaked details of the House committee on dangerous drugs’ executive session last Monday, panel chair and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Representative Robert Ace Barbers said.

Barbers on Friday said that dismissed Mexico mayor Teddy Tumang spoke about a topic discussed during the closed-door meeting, which commenced after the said committee launched its investigation on the two consecutive high-profile illegal drug busts in Pampanga.

One of the operations — a controlled delivery — centered on a warehouse in Barangay San Jose Malino, Mexico.

“Executive session ‘yun at ang napag-usapan ay tungkol sa nasabing droga na nasabat at ang mga sirkumstansiya sa pagkaka-diskubre ng 560 kilos [of shabu] at operational details na confidential in nature,” Barbers said.

(That’s an executive session and what we talked about was the illegal drugs seized by the operatives and the circumstances that led to the discovery of 560 kilograms of shabu, as well as other operational details that are confidential in nature.)

“Wala pong pinag-usapan tungkol sa politika (We did not talk about politics),” he added.

Barbers did not mention where Tumang spoke about details of the executive session, but on Facebook, a video showed Tumang granting an interview with local reporters in Pampanga.

Tumang in the interview asked lawmakers, particularly Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., not to drag him into the issue and keep politics aside.

It was Gonzales who filed the resolution asking to probe the drug seizure in Mexico and another in Mabalacat, Pampanga, which happened a month apart.

Barbers said he would ask the former mayor to tell the committee about where he was able to source the information during the committee’s next hearing.

The said panel went into an executive session after law enforcement agencies like the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation declined to publicly divulge some information about the operation.

Tumang was dragged into the controversy after it was revealed that the warehouse, said to be owned by a certain Willy Ong of Empire 999 Realty Corporation, might have been built on land once owned by the former mayor’s brother.

Over 500 kilograms of shabu were seized in a controlled delivery operation — which led the law enforcement groups and the Bureau of Customs from the Port of Subic to the warehouse in Pampanga.

The value of the illegal substance was said to be over P3.6 billion.

During the hearing, Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel said that it is important that the committee ascertain whether the warehouse was built on the land that Tumang’s brother owned, to see if local officials are involved in the drug trade.

Tumang denied knowing about the drug operations.

READ: Land where Pampanga ‘shabu’ warehouse stood was owned by ex-mayor’s bro

This was neither the first time that Tumang appeared before a House panel nor the first instance that the former mayor was quizzed by Pimentel.  At the House committee on public accounts, it was Pimentel who issued a subpoena ad testificandum against Tumang for failing to attend hearings of the panel on the municipality’s anomalous transactions.

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

The hearings in late July to early August were set after a private citizen asked Congress to look into the transactions flagged by the Commission on Audit, questioning why the Office of the Ombudsman has not yet addressed the issue.

During that time, Tumang was still the incumbent local chief executive.  However, he was dismissed from his post after the Ombudsman found him and three other municipal officials guilty following the anomalous purchases of construction materials.

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