President Duterte and antinarcotics officials have their photos taken in front of pieces of equipment in an abandoned facility in Arayat town, Pampanga province which authorities said are capable of producing up to 400 kg of “shabu” every day. JOAN BONDOC
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—A different kind of “Lakbay Aral” (educational trips for local officials and government employees) took place on Friday.
The destination: A “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) laboratory that can produce at least 400 kilograms of shabu in a day.
“We did not know how a shabu laboratory looked like until we discovered this,” said Mayor Bonifacio Emmanuel Alejandrino, of Arayat town.
“We cannot detect a shabu lab or report the presence of one to authorities unless we know how it looks like. This is the purpose of our Lakbay Aral,” Alejandrino said.
“To see is to learn,” he added.
“I hope those who would visit would use their knowledge to cooperate in the campaign against illegal drugs,” said Alejandrino, former chief of the Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan, the military arm of the old Communist Party of the Philippines.
Supporting Alejandrino’s initiative, Gov. Lilia Pineda encouraged officials in 505 villages in Pampanga province to participate in the Lakbay Aral on drugs in Barangay Lacquios where the shabu laboratory is located.
Personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection and sanitary inspectors of the local government discovered the facility on Sept. 22 following an order from Pineda to have all piggeries in the province checked.
She issued the order after the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency found an underground shabu laboratory in a hog farm in neighboring Magalang town on Sept. 7. Seven Chinese nationals were caught at the Magalang facility.
The Lacquios laboratory was passed off as a piggery and corn crusher. It did not get a business permit. Residents did not report it although they were occasionally roused from sleep by people driving there at “ungodly hours of the night.”
The police arrested a Chinese national there. Four other Chinese suspects escaped.
During his Sept. 27 inspection of the laboratory, President Duterte had ordered the facility sequestered and converted into a rehabilitation center for drug users, committing to give up to P50 million to the provincial and local governments to start the project.
But Alejandrino said the PDEA has been asked to delay the demolition of the laboratory to accommodate the Lakbay Aral. He said students should also visit the laboratory.
In addition to the facility, visitors will also get a scenic view of the mythical Mt. Arayat, pools filled with mineral water at the Mt. Arayat National Park and fishermen catching fish at the nearby Cong Dadong Dam.