House leaders want panels to jointly probe Pogos, drugs, EJKs

The House committee on dangerous drugs, headed by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, found that the warehouse used to store illegal substances in Mexico, Pampanga, was owned by a company headed by Chinese nationals with links to other companies like the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.

MANILA, Philippines — House of Representatives officials have backed proposals for different committees to jointly probe the illegal activities linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogo) hubs, the presence of illegal drugs, and the alleged rights violations in the past administration’s drug war.

In a privilege speech delivered during Monday’s session, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. highlighted the importance of a coordinated approach to pressing issues faced by the country today.

“I rise today to address a pressing and urgent matter affecting our fellow citizens’ safety, well-being, and rights,” Gonzales said.

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“Our nation is currently grappling with complex issues involving public order, the proliferation of dangerous drugs, and human rights violations. We must address these issues in a coordinated and timely manner to ensure justice and the rule of law,” he added.

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Gonzales was referring to the investigations done by the following House panels on key issues:

• Committee on dangerous drugs—investigation on the warehouse used to store illegal substances in Mexico, Pampanga, which was revealed to be owned by a company headed by Chinese nationals with links to other companies like the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
• Committee on public order and safety and committee on games and amusements—investigation on the alleged illegal activities linked to Pogos
• Committee on human rights—investigation on the alleged human rights violations and extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the drug war

READ: Solons’ matrix links Yang, Pharmally to Pampanga warehouse owners, drugs

The committee on dangerous drugs is headed by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers; the public order and safety panel by Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez; and the committee on human rights under Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr.

READ: Rescued Malaysian testifies Chinese sold him to Bamban Pogo for P300,000

Intertwined topics

According to Gonzales, the committees were able to discuss issues, but there are intertwined topics that the panels deferred discussions on due to fear that it might be outside their boundaries.

“These individual inquiries by the three committees have been persistent and yet exhaustive. Still, there are issues that are interwoven entailing scrutiny into intricate details.  Further, the investigations of these committees have shown an overlap or commonalities on individuals or resource persons that may be invited in the hearings,” he said.

“As such, there is a need for a unified and collaborative approach by the Committees on Public Order and Safety, Dangerous Drugs, and Human Rights to investigate the interconnected problems and issues raised meticulously,” he added.

Prior to Gonzales’ declaration, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez also said that a House Resolution asking that the committees mentioned be allowed to hold joint hearings is in the works.

Romualdez said this in a press briefing on Monday, after he, Gonzales, and some of the committee chairpersons inspected Pogo sites in Bamban, Tarlac, and in Porac, Pampanga.

“We are now in the process of we have new stand that there’s a resolution being prepared so that at least the committees that are here and involved in the issues will be working closer together with stands the committee on dangerous drugs led by chairman Ace Barbers; chairman of public order and safety, chairman Dan Fernandez; and also the human rights, we also hear of rights abuses here and possible EJKs,” Romualdez said.

“So, we will work on having these 3 committees at the very least. Although the chairs of the other committees here will be working together to consolidate their efforts […] because there are inter-related issues here that a single committee would not be able to discuss,” he added.

During the session, Abante, 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, Quezon City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas, and Manila Rep. Joel Chua expressed their agreement with Gonzales’ proposal.

Luistro also suggested that the committee on public accounts, headed by Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, be included in the joint committee that will be formed.

Different committees at the House have been probing issues related to Pogos, illegal drugs, and alleged extrajudicial killings.

The committee on dangerous drugs initially conducted an investigation into two anti-drug operations in Pampanga—including a controlled delivery operation where drugs from the Port of Subic were tracked down into a warehouse in Mexico, owned by Empire 999 Realty Corp.

Pharmally involvement

After it was eventually revealed that the warehouse was owned by Empire 999 Realty Corporation, controlled by a certain Willie Ong, the committee dug deeper and found ties to Lincoln Ong, an individual involved in the the Pharmally issue.

The committee on public order and safety headed by Fernandez meanwhile started the probe on Pogos, where it was revealed that a worker named ‘Dylan’ was sold by a Chinese friend to the Bamban hub for P300,000.

Some of the names mentioned in the committee on dangerous drugs’ hearing also surfaced during the discussions on Pogo sites.

Last August 1, Fernandez presented a matrix crafted by the three committees, showing key personalities being linked to the Pogos and drug operations in Central Luzon.

The crackdown on Pogos comes after Marcos announced in his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) that all of these games are banned, citing the problems that the game brought to the country.