Who is Benito Sy?

The Filipino-Chinese businessman who rented the house in Merville Park Subdivision, Parañaque City identified himself as a "fishing magnate" to the owner.

During police interrogation yesterday, 67-year-old Eleonora Dillera said Sy told her that he did business in Taiwan and the Philippines, city police chief Superintendent Ronald Estilles said yesterday.

However, the business went bankrupt and Sy could no longer afford to rent hotel rooms, forcing him to find a house for his young Filipina wife and three young children.

Dillera’s statement matched the report of the Philippine National Police (PNP)- Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force that Sy was a fishing magnate whose business had failed in the late 1990s.

Superintendent Nelson Yabut of the Task Force said Sy’s business could have led him to establish contacts in the illegal drug trade.

Sy has been identified by officials as a "big fish" in the illegal drug trade, whose drug network possibly operates nationwide.

The drug laboratories in Silang, Cavite, Las Piñas, and Parañaque are reportedly all part of Sy’s network.

Estilles said an alleged associate of Sy has been identified as a certain Jacqueline Plenos of 229 Aldrin St., Moonwalk Village, Parañaque.

When police checked Plenos’ house late Monday, it was already empty.

Plenos reportedly left the house immediately after the Silang drug laboratory was raided over the weekend.

Dillera said she met Sy three times, through a real estate agent, before renting her bungalow to him in October 2002.

Estilles said the city police would file criminal charges against Sy.

However, he still have to consult with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) if Dillera, a retiree, would also be charged.

"Strictly speaking, she has to be charged because that’s what’s in the law. But initial assessment of her statement would show that it’s doubtful that she is involved," Estilles said.