Dy: Drug suspect not my son

A lawyer of former Isabela governor Faustino Dy Jr. said yesterday that a man arrested for selling 30 ecstasy tablets during a buy-bust operation in Quezon City last week was not his client’s son.

Contrary to a report released by the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF), lawyer Constante Foronda Jr. said his client is not the father of the suspect, initially reported as Ronaldo Dy.

"The former governor is not even remotely related to the arrested person," Foronda pointed out. "My client resents and is gravely offended by the public imputation that a member of his family is involved in illegal drugs."

In his letter to The STAR, Foronda said that because it is the election season, the report was motivated by malice and demanded that the article be rectified.

But Superintendent Andy Suan of the AIDSOTF’s Special Operations Unit 2 (SOU2) said that it was not Ronaldo Dy they arrested but Jonathan Dy, of 31 Dunedin street, BF Homes, Parañaque City.

Suan said it was the young Dy himself who volunteered the information that the former governor was his father.

He said Dy wrote on his booking and information sheet that his father was Faustino Dy Jr. and his mother as Mary Jane Dy. He listed his provincial address as 1214th street, San Fermino, Cauayan, Isabela.

"The young Dy personally wrote the entry in the booking information sheet and signed it," said Suan, noting that the mix-up could have resulted from a communication problem.

Dy; his brother-in-law, Carlo Castro, 29, of Tierra Pura Subdivision in Quezon City; and Castel Vinci Estacio, 38, of Camilla Homes 3B in Las Piñas City were arrested by police agents after selling 30 ecstasy tablets last March 30.

Recovered from the suspects were the P50,000 marked money as well as three mobile phones and two vehicles they reportedly used in their illegal activities.

Senior State Prosecutor Archimedes Manabat filed drug pushing charges against the suspects and recommended that the suspects will not be allowed to post bail for their temporary liberty.

The suspects are detained at the Philippine National Police custodial center in Camp Crame.