Ace Barbers will conduct a legislative inquiry today to look into the involvement of local officials in the drug trade four months after the discovery of a huge shabu laboratory on the island province of Catanduanes. The Philippine National Police (PNP)-Bicol uncovered on November 26, 2016 the existence of the shabu laboratory in Parangay Palta Small at the property of Angelica Balmadrid, common-law wife of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Eric Isidoro. The shabu laboratory was found with six hydrogenators, 329 kilos of ephedrine hydrochloride and other materials for making shabu. Cua added that he also asked the NBI to conduct an independent probe of the presence of a shabu laboratory on the island to ferret out the truth. He said his political rivals even claimed that his ferryboat navigating the Catanduanes-Tabaco-Catanduanes route was being used in the drug trade.

Source: Manila Times February 22, 2017 12:59 UTC