Guv, Vidal, Sotto hail conviction

Friday, February 24, 2012

CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday hailed as a breakthrough in the fight against illegal drugs, the conviction of nine Chinese nationals and two Filipinos in the manufacture of illegal drugs in a warehouse in Mandaue City.

She said the public continues to be threatened by the ill effects of drugs abuse.

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She said that to eradicate any form of illegal drug abuse is by achieving one little victory at a time.

She reiterated that the Province will continue its all-out-war against illegal drugs.

That, as Sen. Vicente Sotto III congratulated the law enforcers, prosecutors and judges for the conviction.

“I hope they will serve as an example to others,” he said.

“Binabati ko si Justice Marlyn Yap, ang tibay ng loob,” the senator told Sun.Star Cebu.

After the promulgation, Yap took her oath as an appellate justice before Associate Justice Gabriel Ingles.

At the Catholic Church front, Archbishop Emeritus of Cebu Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said he was happy to hear of the conviction “because I know the destruction that could happen to an individual (because of illegal drugs).”

“This must serve as a warning to other people who are thinking along this way,” he told reporters in a press conference.

He said he had forgotten about the case and recalled it only when he passed by the Caps R Us warehouse from the airport when someone pointed it out to him.

For his part, former Dangerous Drugs Board undersecretary Clarence Paul Oaminal said he was happy about the conviction and remembered the two officers who died without seeing their work come to fruition.

Former PDEA 7 director Sr. Supt. Amado Marquez Jr. and SPO2 Jessie Cabalda had helped in the investigation of the case and had since died of illnesses.