Ombudsman seeks update on probe into smuggling of pseudoephedrine

The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas wants to know the status of the investigation of the Department of Justice into the alleged smuggling of the P6 billion worth of drug precursors in Cebu four years ago.

Assistant Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca-Santiago said she will write to the DOJ to inquire what happened to the preliminary investigation of the illegal drug importation case that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency filed against former vice governor John Gregory “John-John” Osmeña and his alleged accomplices, including his former staff at the provincial government.

Santiago said under the DOJ manual, the preliminary investigation should be terminated within 30 days.  However, it has been almost a year since the PDEA filed the case against Osmeña and 10 others and no resolution has been made.

It is not known what happened to the preliminary investigation since the panel of prosecutors held their last hearing in Cebu last year.  The case was not filed in court here because there was no record of any case involving the seized pseudoephedrine.

Santiago said the anti-graft office does not mean to take over the investigation of the case, as they just want to monitor and ensure that the DOJ does not sit on it.

Osmeña and his alleged accomplices were charged with five offenses under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. These include violations of section 4 of Republic Act 9165 otherwise known as illegal importation of drug precursor; Section 26 or conspiracy; Section 28 or criminal liability of a government officials and employees; Section 30 -criminal liability of officers of partnership corporation and section 32 -liability of a person violating any regulation issue by the Dangerous Drugs Board.

Pseudoepherine is an ingredient needed in the manufacture of methamphetamine hydrochloride, more popularly known as shabu.

Among those charged was Mike Cummings, the alleged consignee of the 1,710 kilos of pseudoephedrine, which arrived in Cebu last March 5, 2004 from China.

The chemicals were supposed to be transported to Australia. Investigators said the plan was to store the shipment first in a warehouse in Mandaue City before transport to Australia.

The others who were charged were Joebert Cuesta, Rorela Villegas, Maria Rowena Roldan, Dirk d’Hultz, Leah Banal, Malou Milagros Legazpi, Michael Emilio Sanchez, Alexander Castro and Susan Bernardo.

Cuesta, Villegas and Roldan were former staff of the former vice governor Osmeña. Cuesta was identified as the president of Coastside Ventures Inc. (CVI) while the rest were the firm’s board of directors.

The former vice governor was identified by PDEA agents as the alleged local contacts of the Australian drug ring responsible for the smuggling of the illegal drugs.

In fact, former PDEA-7 chief Gaudencio Pagaling said in his affidavit that Osmeña called him up and asked for the release of the shipment.

There were also other agents of PDEA who witnessed the alleged meeting of Osmeña and the members of the syndicate before the shipment arrived.  — Fred P. Languido/BRP