"We cannot confirm yet whether these chemicals are positive in the production of shabu," the PDEA official leading the raid said, on condition of anonymity.
Valenzuela City Mayor Jose Emmanuel "Bobbit" Carlos and city police chief Superintendent Jose Marcelo also echoed the PDEA official’s comment.
"Negative for shabu," Carlos said when mobbed by reporters moments after coming out of the warehouse at 51-C R. Delfin street in Barangay Marulas at around 5 p.m. Reporters and photographers had staked out the place for some four hours after learning of the raid at 1 p.m. yesterday before officials made any statement.
"There was no ephedrine (an active and chemical ingredient in the manufacture of shabu) found," Marcelo told The STAR.
Carlos said there were two unlabelled chemicals in white bags which the alleged owner could not sufficiently explain. Chemicals identified on the spot by Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) operatives using portable testing kits were acetone, sodium hydroxide and mercury chloride.
But Sally Yap also known as "Sally Chan," a lessee of the warehouse and alleged owner of the plastic factory, also could not explain the two bags of charcoal and two stove-looking apparatus similar to the ones seized in previous raids on suspected shabu laboratories in Metro Manila.
Yap has been taken in by the PDEA for further questioning while the chemical and other apparatuses found in the premises were hauled off to PDEA headquarters for laboratory testing and safekeeping, respectively.
An unidentified employee questioned by PDEA operatives said they were not using the chemicals, packed in 21 containers and sacks estimated at around 40 kilos each, found by the drug agents, in the manufacture of plastic products.
"Lahat ng chemicals na duda sila (PDEA), I have turned over for confirmation and verification at the (PNP) crime laboratory," Carlos told reporters adding that he has ordered the warehouse closed.
Carlos said he received information relayed by concerned members of the community. He said the informants saw several Hyundai Starex vans unloading something in the area. He said local employees who assisted the unidentified men were not allowed to unload certain cargos which were carried only by Chinese men into the warehouse some two or three days prior to the raid.
"Nagduda sila kung bakit di sila pinagbuhat nito," Carlos said.
Carlos further said that information about the firm could not be ascertained yet since it did not have the necessary business permits and clearances.
Employees of neighboring factories, however, said the firm was a manufacturer of plastic products.