Town in Pampanga tagged as transshipment point for drugs

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) tagged the municipality of Mexico, Pampanga as a transshipment point for illegal drugs during a House committee hearing on Wednesday, November 15.

Attending the Committee on Dangerous Drugs’ motu proprio inquiry into the seized cache of drugs in Mexico was Pdea-central Luzon Director Ronald Allan Ricardo.

“Mexico is a transshipment point po siya. So more likely ‘yung mga nakukuha po nating drugs is nagkakataon na…doon po nahuhuli ‘yung ibang drugs but not necessarily intended for the place (Mexico is a transshipment point. So more likely the drugs that we seized were coincidentally...that’s where the other drugs were caught but they were not necessarily intended for the place),” Ricardo said.

Committee chairman Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers earlier quizzed former Mayor Teddy Tumang on why he thought the town was supposedly a “favorite among drug syndicates,” given the recent big-time drug hauls in the province.

Tumang was quick to deny this as he recalled only two instances of illegal drugs-related activity during his 16-year term as mayor.

First was the discovery of 536 kilos of shabu worth ₱3.6 billion inside a warehouse on September 24 which was the committee hearing was about.

The second is the ₱408-million shabu seized in September 2022 during a buy-bust operation in Lakeshore Pampanga, where two drug suspects were arrested.

As per the dismissed mayor, experts have told him that the access to the expressway was a probable reason behind the influx of illegal drugs in the area.

Afterwards, Barbers asked incumbent Mexico Mayor Rodencio Gonzales about his opinion on why the town appeared to be the favorite.

Gonzales bluntly said, “Wala po akong alam diyan, your honor. Wala po akong ideya diyan (I don’t know anything about that, your honor. I have no idea about that).”

PDEA said the latest confiscation was transmitted through the Subic Bay seaport and later stored in the warehouse of Empire 999 Realty Corp. owned by businessman Willy Ong.

“It is also through the gathering of data, don po sa na-interview po namin, hindi po doon distributed ‘yung mga nakukuhang major seizures ng drugs doon po sa Mexico (It is also through the gathering of data, based on who we interviewed, that it was learned that the major seizures of drugs were not distributed there in Mexico),” Ricardo said.

The Philippine National Policedrug Enforcement Group (PDEG) backed this statement and said that Mexico town was only used for the transmission of illegal drugs instead of the destination.

PDEG said 76 out of 505 barangays have yet to be cleaned of drugs in Pampanga. There are approximately 1,000 drug personalities remaining in the province. (Dexter Barro II)