Batangas court convicts 9 Chinese nationals for violating anti-drugs law

LIPA CITY, Philippines – The Lipa City Regional Trial Court on Friday convicted nine Chinese nationals and a Filipino accused of violating the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972. In his 14-page ruling penned on Aug. 1, 2008, but read in court only on Friday, RTC Branch 12 Judge Albert Kalalo found the accused Chinese men - Peter Santos Ong, Chuy Chuacoco, Tan Chin Hui, Tan Chin Bun, Lee Chang, Chang Sian, Ko Kiat, Wong Son Kwan and Lin Chun, and Filipino Benjamin Marcelo - "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" and order each of them to pay the fine of P5 million "without the benefit of parole." "The prosecution's evidence has likewise proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, that all the accused conspired and confederated with each other in compounding, processing and manufacturing regulated drugs," Kalalo said in his decision. The verdict was a culmination of a seven-year case that began in late April 2001 when Sto. Niño Barangay Captain Eline Mea saw a thick smoke and smelled obnoxious odor coming from the house occupied by Marcelo and the Chinese men in Purok 6. Mea and the rest of the village officials later conducted surveillance on the house and saw men "cooking something in large kettles." They later tipped off authorities on suspicion that the area was used for the manufacture of illegal drugs. On April 28, 2001, by virtue of a search warrant, the police raided the house and discovered a hidden laboratory used to manufacture methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as shabu. The police arrested Marcelo and the nine Chinese men and charged them of violating the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972 or Republic Act 6425. Recovered from the suspects were 58.55 kilograms of shabu, a Toyota Tamaraw Revo containing the drugs, and the chemicals, utensils, equipment and tools used in the manufacture and transportation of drug, which the court later ordered to be confiscated in favor of the government and turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency "for proper disposition." The law prohibits the manufacture of regulated drugs subject to a fine of P500,000 to P10 million, lifetime imprisonment or death. In their testimony, the defense team claimed that the nine Chinese nationals were only invited by Marcelo to stay in his house in Sto. Niño, on the evening of April 27, 2001. They were allegedly awakened by armed men in civilian clothes, who later arrested and brought them to the Lipa City Police Station for investigation but the court was not convinced. "The presence of the accused in the country and inside the premises of the farm lot with building at Purok 6, Barangay Sto. Niño, Lipa City, who were seen cooking something at an unholy hour of the night of April 27 to the early morning of April 28, 2001, and from where the foul odor and thick smoke emanated and their arrest, being the only occupants of the premises, are proof enough to establish conspiracy in the manufacture of shabu," Kalalo said in his decision. The lower court said that all the accused have failed to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, their denial of commission of the offense for which they are charged. "In fact, the records will show that all the accused even failed to show, by clear and convincing evidence, their actual date of entry into the country, their entry point, their purpose and status of stay in the country," it added. Since the Chinese nationals are considered aliens, the court also ordered them based on the provisions of RA 6425 to be deported to their country "without further proceedings, immediately after service of their sentence." In an interview with GMANews.TV minutes after the decision was promulgated, Senior State Prosecutor Phillip Kimpo said the Department of Justice is very glad and elated to have secured another conviction for manufacture of illegal drugs. "We're hopeful that this will put stop to the rampant laboratories being put up here in the Philippines especially by the Chinese nationals," Kimpo said. The convicts are currently detained at the Lipa City Jail but are expected to be transferred to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa as ordered by the court. - GMANews.TV