A 35-year-old man named Joshua Hizola Habalo was arrested at around 2am on Sat, May 28, at House Manila, a club inside Remington Hotel at the Resorts World Manila complex in Pasay City.
It turns out Habalo is at the center of very controversial and deadly case.
The operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Anti-Illegal Drugs Division (AIDD) organized a buy-bust operation to entrap Habalo after an informant identified him as one of up to 10 people who sold illegal drugs at the Closeup Forever Summer event last May 21. Five people had died after allegedly ingesting something while they were at the event.
“AIDD chief Joel Tovera said agents, who found Habalo at House Manila, caught him bringing several small brown envelopes containing packets of cocaine, Ecstasy pills, and the so-called Green Amore capsules, which were widely rumored on social media to be the cause of Forever Summer attendees’ deaths,” reports Annelle Tayao-Juego in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Initially, Habalo denied that he had sold drugs at the concert. However, when he was asked by a TV reporter, he admitted that he knew how some concertgoes managed to get illegal drugs placed inside small brown envelopes or plastic sachets into the venue. He stated, “[They tucked them into] their bras, because [security personnel doing a body search] do not inspect that part.”
NBI officials said that Habalo has given the names of other suspected drug dealers who were at the concert.
The report noted: “Habalo had already been arrested by AIDD in 2014 also for selling illegal substances, including Green Amore tablets. However, no formal charges were filed against Habalo that year because the drugs found in his possession contained only synthetic cathinone, which is not listed as an illegal substance under Rebublic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.”
Habalo now faces charges for violating Rebublic Act No. 9165.
