CA junks plea of shabu lab 'financier'

SAN FERNANDO, La Union, Philippines – The Court of Appeals’ special 15th division has junked the petition of the alleged financier of the shabu laboratory busted in Naguilian town in 2008, to review the decision of the Office of the President finding probable cause against him and also his motion for reconsideration to exclude him from the case.

The CA division, chaired by Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao, has affirmed both the July 1, 2009 decision and Sept. 11, 2009 resolution of the Office of the President (OP) finding probable cause to indict alleged financier Joselito Artuz, alias George Cordero. 

Artuz was tagged by Dante Palaganas, the arrested caretaker of the shabu lab, as the financier of the illegal facility, and Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo as the alleged protector. The latter is out on P1-million bail.

“We discern no reason to deviate from the ruling of the OP that probable cause exists to prosecute petitioner (Artuz) for the crime charged,” read part of the CA’s 15-page decision, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR.

The CA decision said the pleadings of Artuz should be properly entertained at the court where the case against him and his co-accused was filed.

The case is now being heard by Judge Ferdinand Fe of the Bauang Regional Trial Court after Judge Rose Mary Molina-Alim inhibited from it.  

After the raid on the shabu lab in Barangay Bimmotobot, Naguilian town on July 9, 2008, Artuz, Borromeo, and Palaganas, along with several Chinese and Filipino cohorts, were charged for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

A three-man panel of prosecutors was then formed by former Justice secretary Raul Gonzales to conduct a preliminary investigation into the case but the panel dismissed it.

The dismissal prompted the OP to conduct an immediate review of the case and subsequently found probable cause to charge the alleged shabu operators.

The OP then assigned La Union prosecutors Danilo Bumacod, Gaudencio Valdez Jr. and Manuel Dulnuan to conduct a second preliminary investigation into the case.

After the reinvestigation, the prosecutors found probable cause to indict Borromeo, Artuz, Palaganas and their cohorts, insisting that evidence against them are strong and that the case is non-bailable.

Artuz, a resident of Valenzuela City, has not been arrested.

Palaganas, currently detained at the La Union provincial jail, said Artuz was the one who leased the lot where the shabu lab was constructed in a mountainous village in Naguilian.

Palaganas also tagged Artuz as the one who hired the five Chinese chemists who manufactured shabu for almost one year in the area.

Authorities seized six truckloads of chemicals in the raid. Shabu worth a trillion pesos was allegedly manufactured in the laboratory.