DOJ clears Faeldon, charges Taguba and Dong in P6.4-B shabu shipment mess

The Department of Justice on Wednesday slapped criminal charges against alleged customs fixer Mark Taguba, businessman Kenneth Dong and seven other individuals linked to the P6.4-billion shabu shipment smuggled into the country from China in May, while dismissing charges against ex-Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.

Taguba and Dong were charged at the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court with importation of dangerous drugs, an offense punishable under the Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act), after the three-person panel of prosecutors found probable cause against them.

Also included in the charge sheet were Hongfei Logistics Group of Companies chairman Chen Ju Long, alias Richard Tan or Richard Chen; businessman Li Guang Feng, alias Manny Li; Eirene May Tatad, owner of EMT Trading; customs broker Teejay Marcellana; Taiwanese nationals Chen I-Min and Jhu Ming Jyun; Hongfei's Chen Rong Huan; and some unidentified individuals.

"In finding probable cause against the above-named respondents for the importation of 602 kilograms of shabu, the panel 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," the DOJ said in a statement.

Charges against Faeldon dismissed

The DOJ dismissed the charges filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) against several former and current BOC officials including ex-Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon; National Bureau of Investigation-Anti Organized Transnational Crimes Division (NBI-AOTCD) officers; corporate officers of Hong Fei Logistics; and warehouse owner Emily Anoche Dee and her brother Fidel Anoche Dee.

The department, however, clarified that the dismissal of the charges was subject to the automatic review by the Secretary of Justice in compliance with Department Circular No. 4.

According to the DOJ, the PDEA failed "state with clarity the acts or omission" supposedly committed by the respondent BOC officers. The panel said that the evidence presented by the PDEA during the preliminary investigation was insufficient to establish probable cause.

As for the respondent NBI officers, the DOJ panel headed by Assistant State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes ruled that the agents were justified to retain custody of the 500 kilograms of shabu which they seized, examined and investigated.

The PDEA also failed to show that Hongfei Logistics corporate officers knowingly consented to or actively participated in the importation of the drug shipment, which was seized by NBI and BOC operatives on May 26 from the Valenzuela City warehouse based on the tip from Chinese authorities.

The panel added that Emily Anoche Dee could not have maintained a drug den since in renting her property she did not know it would be used as a transshipment point of the illegal drugs.

The complaint filed by the NBI-AOTCD against Fidel Anoche Dee was dismissed because of the existence of an earlier case filed by the PDEA before Valenzuela City RTC.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the filing of the case was one way for government to eradicate the drug menace "for the better future of our youth and loved ones."

"We want to send a message that any involvement in drugs will be severely dealt with. You deal in drugs and you will suffer the full consequences To those who are still involved in drugs, we are coming for you," he said. — BM, GMA News