Official says ‘harassed’ Taiwan Traders pulling out Investments

IBA, Zambales- An aeronautical engineer who is now a provincial board member said that the province had lost foreign investments when two Taiwanese nationals decide to withdraw all their investments from Zambales.

This came after the Taiwanese investors where accused of culturing the Pacific White Shrimp which is technically known as P. Vannemie.

Samuel Ablola, a board member of this province, said the Taiwanese investors were accused of culturing the pacific white shrimps from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

He related that in the afternoon of last March 17, he received a phone call from a Taiwanese lady, requesting his help because her husband has been arrested by a raiding team in barangay Dirita, this town. She told him the men who arrested her husband did not show any warrant of arrest and that he was forcibly brought to a fishpond in barangay San Agustin, this town, and some seven kilometers from where he picked up.

Ablola said he went to where the raiding team brought the Taiwanese and white there, he asked if the raiding team has a warrant of arrest or search warrantor any court order, but no one of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents answered. They could also not produce any document that would show that the raid is legal, he said.

The NBI agents only told him that the two were engaged in illegal activities but did not say what the illegal activities.

He said that the raiding team forcibly took the two Taiwanese and brought them to Manila and detained them for almost two days. They were freed only after the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office interceded.

“Being a public official, I inquired about the legality of the operation and even asked them if they have informed the local officials of their mission in the province,” he said.
Ablola belied claims he is the protector of the illegal activities, saying he merely inquired about the legality of the operation. He said he is also a government official who is duty bound to respect the rule of law. I have never done any illegal activity,” Ablola said. (Jerry T. Uy)