Subic Town, Zambales – First District Representative Jay Khonghun said that some of the candidates running for position in this town for the coming local elections on May are unfit to serve the people of Subic.
In a social media post on April 6, 2025, Khonghun penned that when he was still a mayor of this town, he stopped the smuggling of steel from the former shipbuilding company Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) at the Redondo Peninsula in 2013.
He cited that these candidates were the ones who wanted to smuggle the steel out of the shipbuilding facility, prompting him to arrest the perpetrators and seize the contrabands.
“Hinuli ko kayo dahil bawal ang ginagawa niyo, ginampanan ko lang trabaho ko tapos ipapapatay niyo ako?” he said, citing that the attempted assassination was aired on TV and was published in newspapers as well as posted on the internet.
“Tapos ngaun tumatakbo kayo at gusto nyong mag-lingkod sa Bayan ng Subic? Kung kaya niyo magpapatay ng Mayor, papaano pa kaya ung ordinaryong mamamayan,” he quipped.
In 2013, police arrested 81-year-old Gregorio Gutierrez, a resident of Olongapo City. Gutierrez was allegedly plotting to kill Khonghun.
According to then Subic Municipal Police Station chief Senior Supt. Jelson Dayupay, Gutierrez was arrested after he handed a gun to Rommel Ave, the man he hired for the assassination plot, during a police entrapment operation on Aug. 24, 2013.
Dayupay said Ave told police that the plan to kill Khonghun was hatched because the mayor was giving Gutierrez’ group a hard time. He said that Gutierrez will provide the gun for Ave and would pay P100,000 once the contract was done.
Police also said they had recovered a mobile telephone containing messages to Ranildo Maningding, the owner of Aim High Philippines Logistics Inc., a transport company, which is now under investigation. Gutierrez was using a vehicle registered to that firm.
It can be recalled that Khonghun seized 16 of Maningding’s trucks that were smuggling steel fabricated inside the Hanjin shipyard inside the Subic Bay Freeport.
Khonghun said, “We held his trucks and turned them over to the Bureau of Customs.” Khonghun said Maningding came to his office to discuss the incident, “but I told him we are not after him because he’s just the trucking service.”