Saturday, December 10, 2005
Defense grills star witness
The prosecution’s evidence against one of 13 men impleaded in the Mandaue City shabu laboratory case is weak, said Rep. Antonio Cuenco.
Cuenco, vice chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, yesterday said they need “the corroborative testimony of a witness” to secure a conviction.
What the prosecution has right now, he said, are “clues” that link suspected financier Calvin Tan and the men who were arrested when the drugs lab was raided in September 2004.
But Cuenco (Cebu City, south district) stressed the evidence the prosecution has is more than enough to ensure that the petition for bail filed by the impleaded individuals is denied.
“In a game of poker, you don’t reveal all your cards until the game is done. But for sure, we have three aces. One more and that’s it,” Rep. Roque Ablan, for his part, said.
One of the three aces, according to sources from the prosecution, may be accused Hung Chin Chang’s application to become a state witness.
Hung, like Tan, is believed to be the brains behind the laboratory in Barangay Umapad and could identify their local contacts.
Hung is a British national while Tan had businesses in Hong Kong, where he was arrested shortly after the raid last year. The Philippine Government secured Tan’s extradition after he was detained for a separate drug charge.
Lawyer Danilo Yap, in a separate interview, confirmed that the application has been there since late April and that the prosecution has “hinted at its approval.”
Ablan, Cuenco and Justice Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda all attended yesterday’s hearing on the shabu case at the Regional Trial Court Branch 28.
They watched prosecution star witness Tamadoni Morteza being cross-examined for four straight hours, first by lawyers William delos Santos, representing Calvin Tan; then Lorenzo Paylado for accused Siew Kin Weng and Liew Kam Song; Noel Archival for accused Joseph Yu and Allan Yap Garcia; Allan Legaspi for Joseph Lopez; and Oscar Maturan for Taiwanese national Lin Li Ku and Chinese national Wu Tiao Yi.
The cross-examination—which focused on how Tamandoni, a refugee from Iran, could be a paid witness and how, as such, it was impossible for him to be a government agent or asset—ended past 6 p.m.
Maturan had asked for a continuance because he was “too hungry” to continue.
Cross-examination will resume on Jan. 12, 2006.
“The witness has held out well despite the stupid way the lawyers were asking their questions,” Ablan said, when asked to comment on the proceedings. (KNR)
(December 10, 2005 issue)
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