PDEA nabs 3 men in Olongapo raid

MANILA, Philippines - Anti-narcotics operatives swooped down on a hotel in Olongapo City at around midnight yesterday and arrested three men, including an Australian and a scion of the Magsaysay political clan, who had allegedly used the penthouse there as a drug and prostitution den.

The penthouse of C’est Le Vie Hotel located on Gordon Avenue had been the subject of surveillance for a week and had been photographed and video-monitored by operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, said Director General Dionisio Santiago.

“They have been renting the penthouse and using it as a drug den and for holding sex activities like orgies,” Santiago told The STAR.

Major Ferdinand Marcelino identified the arrested suspects as Enrique Magsaysay Jr., Mark Quinday and Australian Robert Paul Mason.

Marcelino also said they recovered from the penthouse needles and “injectibles” like Demerol and several lighters used for sniffing shabu.

Santiago said Magsaysay, who belongs to the influential political clan, has been the subject of surveillance for alleged drug peddling activities.

“He (Magsaysay) has been doing it for quite some time and some people in Zambales had tagged him as an untouchable because despite his drug peddling activities, he was never arrested,” Marcelino said.

Marcelino said that after taking surveillance photos and videos during a one-week period that operatives rented a unit adjacent to the penthouse, they applied for a search warrant that became the basis of the operation yesterday.

Santiago said the suspects would bring female prostitutes to the penthouse and drug the sex workers before engaging them in orgies.

According to Marcelino, the arrested suspects told them that it was Mason, who had been renting the penthouse.

The Australian national claimed he was just a tourist visiting the country, but Santiago said they would be checking with the Australian embassy the status of the foreigner suspect.

Marcelino said they also rounded up five female prostitutes, three of whom were minors, from the penthouse.

He said these women would be turned over to the custody of social workers.