MANILA, Philippines – The House quad committee ordered the arrest and detention of former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Wilkins Villanueva during the mega-panel’s 13th hearing on Thursday, December 13.
Villanueva, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s PDEA chief, was cited in contempt by quad committee co-chairperson and Abang-Lingkod Representative Joseph Stephen Paduano, after the former official refused to answer questions in relation to a 2004 anti-drug operation in Davao City.
The mega-panel approved Paduano’s motion to detain Villanueva, but quad committee vice chairperson and Antipolo City 2nd District Representative Romeo Acop moved to detain the former PDEA chief next year.
“May I move that the serving of the penalty of contempt be served when we come back after the holiday season in January,” Acop said, which has also been approved by the mega-panel.
“That’s why I asked for a one-minute suspension, [to determine] if they will serve the contempt now or maybe [later] because in the spirit of Christmas, it’s holiday, you’re here,” Senior Deputy Speaker Dong Gonzales said.
Persons cited in contempt are immediately arrested by House personnel once the arrest order becomes final. But Villanueva’s case was different as his arrest order will only take effect on January 13, 2025, or when the mega-panel resumes its hearing next year.
The Duterte-time drug enforcement chief has been under fire for weeks now over the 2004 anti-drug operation in a shabu laboratory in Dumoy, Davao City.
On Thursday, Villanueva faced person deprived of liberty Jed Pilapil Sy, the wife of drug personality Allan Sy, who was implicated in the 2004 operation.
It was raised during the hearing that Villanueva was allegedly involved in Jed’s warrantless arrest. Villanueva stood by his claim that he does not know about the supposed arrest, but Acop refuted this by showing PDEA records that stated that Jed was arrested by the agency twice — on January 1, 2005 and January 4, 2005.
Based on the affidavit of Davao Death Squad (DDS) whistleblower Arturo Lascañas, who revealed Duterte’s supposed kill orders, Allan was described as “the manager of a shabu laboratory that was raided by PDEA in December 2004,” and has worked for Chinese Michael Yang, who later became Duterte’s economic adviser.
Jed confirmed on Thursday that he knew Yang as “Hong Ming” and that her husband had worked for the Chinese businessman. The Chinese name of Duterte’s former adviser is “Hong Ming Yang.”
Anti-drug cop Eduardo Acierto, who revealed Yang’s alleged drug ties, also mentioned Allan in his report as a possible drug personality. Yang is also involved in the controversial Pharmally scandal, which triggered a full-blown Senate investigation at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acierto’s report said Sy was tagged as “missing,” but Lascañas said in his affidavit that the Chinese was among the people the DDS had killed based on orders given to them.
What the lawmakers were doing now was to resurrect the decades-old issues related to Duterte in a bid to pin down the former president and his allies, like Villanueva.
The lawmakers are gradually establishing how non-police officials like Villanueva were allegedly involved in the killings even before Duterte rose to presidency in 2016. – Rappler.com
