Judge Leoncio Janolo of Pasig City regional trial court Branch 264 found accused Chua Chi, Huang Hongwei, Joey Lu and Xingfu Wang guilty beyond reasonable doubt and ordered them to pay the government a fine of P1 million each.
Chief drugbuster Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay expressed satisfaction over Janolo’s decision.
"We are satisfied by the judge’s decision. We are on the right track since we are now in the thick of strengthening our legal offensive against drug syndicates," said Aglipay, the head of the police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF).
The latest convicts are the second batch of Chinese nationals involved in the operation of shabu laboratories in the country to be imprisoned for life during the term of President Arroyo.
In his 30-page decision, Janolo said prosecution presented overwhelming evidence showing the accused were engaged in the manufacture of regulated drugs.
"In this situation, possession of either regulated or prohibited drugs will be absorbed by the provision on manufacture, in which case, the liability of the accused thereat shall be treated under the provision of Section 14-A, the law violated and proved, which applies," said Janolo in his decision.
The suspects, including three Filipinas, were arrested by a team headed by Senior Superintendent Federico Laciste Jr., AID-SOT intelligence chief, while in the act of manufacturing shabu inside a house at 44 San Agustin street, Capitol 8 Subdivision in Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City last Nov. 6, 2001.
Laciste’s team confiscated from the suspects 206 kilograms of shabu worth P412 million and raw materials and equipment used to manufacture the illegal drug.
The suspects, Laciste said, also yielded an Uzi sub-machine gun, two Ingram machine pistols, a claymore mine, an MK fragmentation grenade, a blasting cap and assorted magazines and ammunition.
Apart from the illegal manufacture of illegal drugs, the four Chinese nationals were also charged with illegal possession of firearms.
The three Filipinas were charged with illegal possession of shabu. The other cases are still being heard before Janolo’s sala.
Janolo ordered that all evidence of the case, including the seized shabu, be confiscated and forfeited in favor of the government.
He also ordered the immediate confinement of the four convicts to the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
Meanwhile, Janolo cited Laciste, his deputy Superintendent Nelson Yabut and other members of the arresting teams, and Senior Inspector Vivian Sumobay, of the PNP crime laboratory, for their dedication to duty.
Laciste was also credited for arresting last Jan. 18, 2002 of seven Chinese nationals at a shabu laboratory in San Juan. The suspects were also meted life sentences by Judge Librado Correa.
The four accused bowed their heads while a clerk of court read Janolo’s decision at a the jampacked improvised sala inside at Rizal Provincial Capitol in Pasig City.
Their lawyer said he will file a motion for reconderation before Janolo’s sala in 15 days.
"The decision was a temporary setback," lawyer Hipolito Sanez said.