PDEA files graft raps vs two Pampanga mayors, officials over sale of pigs from shabu lab  

January 19, 2017

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) formally filed graft and corruption charges against local officials of Pampanga before the Office of the Ombudsman over  the sale of more than 4,000 pigs in a swine farm used as front to conceal an underground clandestine shabu laboratory in Magalang, Pampanga.

In a statement Thursday, PDEA Director General Isidro Lapeña said the agency is convinced that Mayor Maria Lourdes Paras Lacson of Magalang and Mayor Jose Maria Hizon of Bacolor may be held liable for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act”.

“Mayor Lacson surreptitiously sold the 4,038 pigs at an alleged public auction in the amount of P7 million to the lone bidder, Mayor Hizon. The auction was held without consulting us and without any legal basis. We only discovered the sale when it appeared in online news,” Lapeña said.

Also sued were respondents Raisa Bayani, Adela Tanhueco, Jesus Nathaniel Pili, Ryan Miranda, and Milagro Suing, all officers of the municipality of Magalang and members of the auction committee who conducted the bidding; and Marcial Alfaro, Barangay Chairman of Barangay San Ildefonso, Magalang.

On September 7, 2016, combined elements of PDEA regional office-National Capital Region under Director Wilkins Villanueva and local police implemented a lawful search in Jewang Farm, a piggery in Barangay San Ildefonso which resulted in the discovery of a clandestine shabu laboratory and more than 4,000 pigs and the seizure of dangerous drugs and controlled precursors and essential chemicals, and arrest of seven Chinese nationals.

Two days after the implementation of the search warrant, it was found out that Alfaro brought a letter to Mayor Lacson informing her many pigs have died, while the others were left unattended. In response to the letter, Lacson summoned the Sangguniang Bayan of Magalang, Pampanga in a special session to address the issue.

“PDEA was never informed, notified and invited about the special session where they discussed to resolve the disposal of the pigs,” Lapeña said. DMS