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Friday, January 28, 2005
DOJ excludes women from rap, rejects transfer of one witness
While two of their family members were sent behind bars, three other incorporators of Caps R Us Inc. may no longer be included in the drug complaint.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday decided to drop them from the case.
A DOJ special meeting, presided over by Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda, led to this decision. The DOJ team believed that Azucena Ng, Athena Ng and Adriene Ong had nothing to do with the transactions allowing “shabu makers” to use the Caps R Us warehouse in Barangay Umapad, Mandaue City.
Azucena and Athena Ng are the mother and sister of Andy, respectively, while Adrienne is the wife of Richard Ong.
Both Andy and Richard are detained at the Mandaue City jail after the court ordered their arrest.
The court found probable cause to believe that they knew about the manufacturing of shabu inside their Umapad warehouse.
The DOJ earlier recommended that Andy, Richard and the three female incorporators be included in the drug case for manufacturing of illegal drugs, first filed against the 11 drug suspects arrested during a police raid last Sept. 24.
The recommendation prompted defense lawyer Romulo Senining to file a motion for reconsideration before the DOJ.
No participation
Both Athena and Azucena admitted in their affidavits that they are incorporators of Caps R Us, but said that all transactions were made by Andy and Richard, after their company stopped manufacturing caps, shirts and other garments.
“Although they are incorporators, the DOJ believes they had no participation whatsoever in the negotiations to lease the warehouse,” said Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south).
Cuenco and the three prosecution panel members attended the DOJ meeting in Manila.
In the same meeting, Cuenco said the DOJ also turned down the proposal that British-Chinese national Hung Chin Chang (alias Simon Lao), one of the 11 drug suspects, be transferred to a Manila jail if he agrees to become a government witness. (GC)
(January 28, 2005 issue)
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