2 Sinos, Pinoy cohort held in Batangas shabu lab raids

CAMP MIGUEL MALVAR, Batangas — Two Chinese nationals and their alleged Filipino cohort were arrested when combined elements of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Batangas police swooped down on two shabu laboratories in the province this week, authorities said.

Senior Superintendent Edmund Zaide, Batangas police director, identified the Chinese nationals as Hui Ching Chi Ngo, 58, alias Jun Co, and Allan Ngo, 52, and the third suspect as Joebert Vasquez, 32, the caretaker of one of the two houses.

First raided by the Sto. Tomas police led by its chief, Superintendent Raul Tacaca, last Wednesday afternoon was a house along the Maharlika Highway in Barangay San Rafael based on information that Chinese men were seen frequenting the place.

The operation yielded at least 20 kilos of suspected shabu and several containers and liquid chemicals used in making the illegal drug.

During police interrogation, Vazquez pointed to another house converted into a shabu factory in Barangay Balele, Tanauan City.

On Thursday afternoon, Judge Arcadio Manicbas of the Regional Trial Court Branch 83 in Tanauan City issued a search warrant for the house reportedly owned by one Arlene Villena.

With the search warrant, the PDEA and Batangas police immediately formed a team and swooped down on the house, seizing drying and mixing machines.

PDEA director Dionisio Santiago and Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan, Region 4-A police director, who personally inspected the area, have ordered a manhunt for Villena and nine other Chinese nationals who managed to elude arrest.

Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, Region 4 police chief of staff, said Villena reportedly bought the three-hectare Tanauan property for P5.6 million from a certain Godofredo Gonzales.

Apolinario Malabanan, chairman of Barangay Balele, however, denied any knowledge of the shabu laboratory in his jurisdiction, saying those behind it could be operating at night. — With Ed Amoroso