MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice has re-filed the drug smuggling charges against traders, importers and broker Mark Taguba over the P6.4 billion worth of shabu shipment that slipped through Customs before a Manila court.
Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said in message to reporters that the information or charge sheet was filed on Wednesday, January 24. The re-filing follows the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court's dismissal of the drug smuggling raps versus Taguba and others, due to lack of jurisdiction.
Others who are facing charge for violation of Section 4 of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are:
- Chen Ju Long a.k.a. Richard Chen or Richard Tan
- Li Guang Feng a.k.a. Manny Li
- Dong Yi Shen a.k.a. Kenneth Dong or Yi Shan Dong
- Eirene Mae Tatad
- Teejay Marcellana
- Chen I-min
- Jhu Ming Jyun
- Chen Rong Huan
The DOJ, in its resolution, said that: "The [p]anel determined that the combination of the individual participation of each of the respondents, either as shipper, consolidator, facilitator, broker, financier, consignee, or warehouse lessee – reveals a pattern of over acts indicative of conspiracy to import into the country the dangerous drugs."
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Valenzuela RTC Branch 171 Presiding Judge Maria Nena Santos earlier said that she has no jurisdiction over the case since the shipment arrived at the Manila International Container Port.
She added that the case should have been brought instead to a Manila court.
State prosecutors appealed the case, saying that drug smuggling is a "continuing crime," but Balmes said that the motion for reconsideration was junked by the local court.
Former Customs chief, now Office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Nicanor Faeldon was earlier tagged in the case as one of the respondents.
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The DOJ, however, dropped Faeldon's name along with several other members of the National Bureau of Investigation-Anti Organized Crime Division from the case.
The state prosecutors noted that the complainant Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency failed to "state with clarity the acts or omission supposedly committed by the above-named BOC respondents that would constitute violation of the offense charged."
The case stemmed from the raid led by the operatives of the BOC, PDEA, and the National Bureau of Investigation at a warehouse in Valenzuela City. Seized in the operation are 604 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.The shipment was declared as kitchenware, footwear and moldings, as it slipped through the BOC.
The Office of the Ombudsman, for its part, said on November 7 that it has "created a panel to conduct a fact-finding investigation into alleged anomalies in the release of P6.4 billion worth of metamphetamine or 'shabu,' through the greenlane (sic) of Bureau of Customs."
The announcement comes days after President Rodrigo Duterte said that he will leave the investigation of allegations that his son Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and son-in-law Manases "Mans" Carpio are involved in the case to independent agencies.