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Sunday, November 14, 2004
Shabu lab suspect to squeal, says DOJ
By Aledel Gonzalez-Cuizon & Garry Cabotaje
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
One of the 11 men arrested during the raid on a shabu laboratory in Mandaue City is willing to become a state witness, a potentially major break in the case.
Justice Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda said yesterday that Joseph Yu “made an assurance” to help the government pursue the case. Yu also wrote a note but it has yet to be translated from Chinese.
Pineda went to the shabu laboratory in Barangay Umapad yesterday morning with Reps. Roque Ablan (Ilocos Sur, 1st district) and Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south) before proceeding to the Mandaue City jail to talk with the suspects.
Yu and fellow suspects Allan Garcia and Hun Chin Chang (alias Simon Lao) were presented to the three officials at the jail.
However, Garcia and Hun Chin Chang were taken to a separate area while Yu, with the help of an interpreter, talked with the three officials.
Their conversation took about an hour.
Singing
Ablan, House committee on dangerous drugs chairman, said that Yu has “started singing” while Cuenco added that Yu will soon be “singing the whole song.”
Pineda shared Cuenco’s view that the 11 suspects should be transferred to a more secure facility.
The justice official said there were “too many people” at the city jail.
Once the court approves the motion for the transfer of their detention, the 11 suspected shabu makers will occupy the jail facilities of the Central Command (Centcom) and Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 headquarters.
Cuenco said Centcom and PRO 7 officials already agreed that five will be detained at the stockade of Camp Lapu-Lapu, the home of Centcom, in Lahug, Cebu City.
The remaining six will occupy the detention cell at Camp Sergio Osmeña, the PRO 7 headquarters on Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City.
Double red
The criminal case is being heard at the sala of Mandaue City Regional Trial Court Branch 28 Judge Marilyn Yap.
For his part, Mandaue City Jail Warden Jose Moring said yesterday he will just wait for an order from the court.
Moring said that if the 11 suspects will be moved out of the city jail, the double red alert status at the facility will be lifted.
The jail has been on double red alert status since the suspects were detained there last month.
At the shabu laboratory, Ablan told reporters he was surprised to receive a thick document containing newspaper clippings about Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano’s alleged involvement in the shabu laboratory.
He said that the House inquiry on the shabu laboratory hasn’t even started yet but he already received these documents.
Ablan, who received it last Tuesday, said nobody required Ouano to submit it.
Whose move?
Ablan, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, said the committee has yet to meet on Tuesday to identify the scope of their investigation.
The inquiry will be held in Cebu City the following week.
The document that Ablan received also included executive orders creating policies against illegal drugs, reports on anti-drug activities, the City’s budget for police assistance and Mayor Ouano’s letter of explanation to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.
But the mayor’s camp said yesterday afternoon that Ablan was not in the list of officials who were provided copies of the document.
A source close to the mayor said Ablan may have received a copy from the mayor’s political allies.
The source added that Ouano doesn’t even know Ablan personally.
The 11 men, mostly foreigners, and a huge amount of shabu and precursor chemicals were found in the Umapad laboratory last Sept. 24.
Testify first
But Yu, who was charged with illegal manufacture of shabu along with the 10 men, must testify before becoming a state witness.
Yu has not identified any local contact.
He also expressed concern for his own safety.
However, three official suspects, including Yu, earlier identified Hong Kong-based trader Calvin de Jesus Tan as the one who gave P5 million for the lab operation in Umapad.
Tan is facing a separate drug case in Hong Kong and is being held in the Chinese territory for trial.
Cuenco and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency have gone to Hong Kong to persuade authorities there to extradite Tan so he can face the criminal case here along with the 11 suspects.
Pineda, Ablan and Cuenco also went to the Centcom and the PRO 7 in Cebu City yesterday afternoon.
Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu, 6th district), a member of the House committee on dangerous drugs, joined them at the PRO 7 office.
(November 14, 2004 issue)
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