Virac court orders destruction of drugs, equipment in Catanduanes shabu lab

Denying the prosecution's appeal, a regional trial court judge has ordered the destruction of the drugs and equipment in the shabu laboratory discovered in Virac, Catanduanes, in November 2016.

In an April 2 order, Judge Lelu Contreras of the Virac RTC Branch 43 directed the regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to proceed with the destruction "without further delay," provided that a representative sample is retained.

Contreras said, in a letter to Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, that the PDEA had scheduled a conference on April 11 or 12 in preparation for the destruction of the seized items.

Christian Frivaldo, director of the PDEA Region 5 office, confirmed that authorities had already conducted an inventory and are in coordination with the court for options regarding the manner of destruction, the schedule of which has yet to be finalized. 

Contreras, in upholding her order to destroy, denied government prosecutors' motion for reconsideration, which "insinuated" there was "unexplained haste" in her earlier order "that is curiously advantageous to the defense of the accused." 

She first ordered the destruction on March 21 but was met with the prosecution's motion for reconsideration.

She cited Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, which provides for the conduct of an ocular inspection of the seized drugs or laboratory equipment within 72 hours of the filing of a criminal case, and for the destruction of the items within 24 hours of the inspection.

"There was no mention in R.A. 9165 of any motion that needed to be filed first before an ocular inspection could be conducted by the Court," her April 2 order said.

"How could there be haste when the ocular inspection was actually conducted, not within 72 hours, or three days, but 138 hours, or five and three-fourths day from filing/raffling to this branch at the destruction has not even been commenced by the PDEA despite receipt of the Order on March 21, 2018?"

She also compared the provision of the law with its implementing rules and regulations, saying "in case of conflict between the law and the IRR, the latter prevails."

Judge to inhibit

Contreras also denied the prosecution's motion for her to inhibit, but said she will eventually recuse herself from the cases for security reasons.

The prosecution had initially wanted her out of the case over questions on her neutrality as a magistrate, after it was alleged that she delayed the release of a search warrant on the property housing the shabu laboratory.

This was also one of the grounds for former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II's request to the Supreme Court for the transfer of the cases' venue to either a Makati or a Quezon City court.

But Contreras took exception to the accusation that she delayed the issuance of the warrant and that she was with the town mayor at the premises of the drug laboratory at the time it was inspected.

In an April 3 order, she recounted her version of events on November 25 and 26, 2016, and cited a sworn affidavit of a newspaper publisher-editor and copies of security guard logbooks which indicated her presence at the Virac District Jail and at the Hall of Justice.

She also said that Police Superintendent Alex Pederio, the cop who first alleged that she was with Mayor Samuel Laynes and lot sub-lessor Angelica Balmadrid, recanted his earlier statement, which she said served as the basis for the prosecution's motion for inhibition.

"In view of Supt. Pederio's recantation, the motion for inhibition filed by three prosecutors has no more leg to stand on, thus, it is, hereby, denied," her order stated.

"Nevertheless, the undersigned has already announced her intention to inhibit from handling these cases, but not on the basis of the Motion for Inhibition filed by the three prosecutors. She will inhibit for security reasons after the preliminary stages of the proceedings. Meantime, she has to oversee the destruction of the contents of the shabu laboratory, which should be undertaken without further delay from receipt of the Order dated April 2, 2018."

Meanwhile, in her April 6 letter to Carpio, she said Ernesto Tabor, the supposed eyewitness in the case, is "more secured here in Catanduanes than somewhere else."

"Thus, it is his life that must be secured and his safety must be the paramount concern of the prosecution and not those of the state prosecutors," she said. —KBK, GMA News