2 Chinese cleared in drug case over witness’ absence

MANILA, Philippines – A Quezon City judge has dismissed the drug charges against two Chinese after a material witness, an agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), failed to attend during the trial.

In a 14-page joint resolution released yesterday, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 103 Judge Felino Elefante exonerated Go Hong Bing, alias Clarence Chen, and Changxin Wang from charges of violation of Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

The judge granted the suspects’ demurrer to evidence, which questioned the strength of the evidence presented by the prosecution panel.

Records show that Go was arrested by PDEA agent Gregorio Camua III in a sting along Timog Avenue on Feb. 2, 2012 for allegedly selling P3.6 million worth of shabu to agent Jonathan Morales.

Wang was arrested as his name was in the deposit slips recovered from Go. His supposed account was allegedly the same account where Morales was told to deposit the money for the test buy.

The judge struck Morales’ testimony from the records because the agent skipped further hearings after initially taking the witness stand.

The judge ruled that there was nothing categorical in the testimony of Camua, who was 10 meters away when the bust was conducted, that what were handed over were illegal drugs and money.

“Primarily, the reason of the court is that the (evidence) which were allegedly recovered was not identified by Agent Morales,” read the order.