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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Moving shabu case to Manila opposed
By Rose O. Versoza and Garry Cabotaje
CEBU CITY -- The Office of the State Prosecutor is considering transferring the venue of the drug case and the 11 suspected shabu makers to Manila.
But Rep. Antonio Cuenco and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 legal consultant Paul Oaminal are against the move.
Security is better in Cebu, said Cuenco, vice chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs. He cited the cases of a big-time drug trader and Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi who escaped from jail despite the tight security in Camp Crame.
Cuenco (Cebu City, south) suggested instead that the 11 suspects, who are considered high-risk prisoners, be transferred to Camp Sergio Osmeņa, the home of Police Regional Office 7.
Eight of the suspects are foreigners, mostly of Chinese descent.
"Also, legally there is no basis for their transfer because the commission of the crime happened in Mandaue City," he said.
Oaminal also said the proposal will give a wrong signal that Cebu is not in control of the situation.
Also, any request for transfer of venue should be filed with the Supreme Court, he said.
"We believe in the competence and integrity of the handling judge here," he added.
Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuņo, who raised the idea, said they are still discussing the possibility of transferring the case and the suspects' detention, including the grounds to support their move.
Cuenco and PDEA want transferred is suspected mastermind and financier Calvin de Jesus Tan, who was arrested in Hong Kong for possession of illegal drugs.
Cuenco, also chairman of the House committee on foreign relations, and Supt. Ager Ontog Jr., PDEA director for intelligence and investigation service, will leave for Hong Kong tomorrow to pursue "diplomatic and legal" efforts for the immediate return of Tan, a Chinese-Filipino with residence in Manila.
Zuņo said this could be done by making a "simple request" to the Hong Kong authorities.
Zuņo, who joined the inspection of the shabu laboratories in Umapad and Paknaan in Mandaue Monday, said there is no need to go through an extradition process because the Philippines and Hong Kong have an agreement on the return of accused persons or fugitives.
In their trip, Cuenco and Ontog will bring with them copies of the arrest warrant against Tan and the case filed against him and the 11 suspects for manufacturing illegal drugs.
Mandaue City Regional Trial Court Judge Marilyn Yap led the inspection of the shabu labs Monday.
They did an inventory of the 675 kilos of shabu, chemicals and lab equipment seized from the two warehouse complexes and another in Looc. After that, the contraband materials can be destroyed.
Other related developments
* Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeņa is willing to pay up to P1 million for any information that may lead to the conviction of the 11 suspects linked to the "mega" shabu laboratory.
"If the info will lead to conviction, then we will give up to P1 million. But if it's information on who their local contacts are, it can be P2,000 to P100,000. It all depends on how useful the information is," the mayor said in a news conference.
* The PDEA will file a motion in court to cancel the Philippine passport of Tan, a 29-year-old Chinese-Filipino with aliases Lin Chui Wi, Joey Ng and Joey Lin, 29.
* The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) will also file a petition before the court to freeze Tan's assets both in Hong Kong and the Philippines.
* National Bureau of Investigation 7 Director Reynaldo Esmeralda will also ask the AMLC to freeze the bank account of Joseph Yu, one of 11 drug suspects.
* Oaminal said they received information that British national and Hong Kong resident Hung Chin Chang, one of the 11 men arrested during the raid in Umapad, has some properties in Hong Kong, which were confiscated by the authorities there.
* PDEA still has to verify, though, what case is Hung, who uses aliases Andy Ang, Anthony Ang or Simon Lao, facing in Hong Kong.
Oaminal said that if Hung is indeed facing a criminal case there, they are willing to surrender him to the jurisdiction of Hong Kong in exchange for the return of Tan.
Zuņo said a special panel of prosecutors from Manila will be sent to Cebu to handle the preliminary investigation and the prosecution of the drug case in court.
Last Sept. 30, Public Attorney's Office Chief Noel Anthony Maninang filed a motion, in behalf of 10 of the 11 accused, asking the court to direct the Office of the City Prosecutor to do a preliminary investigation.
Only Joseph Lopez, 33, did not file a motion for preliminary investigation.
The motion is set for hearing on Friday.
The case for manufacturing shabu was immediately filed before the court last Sept. 29 without the benefit of any preliminary investigation because the 11 accused refused to sign a waiver for their detention.
The Hong Kong court also denied Tan's motion to post bail last Saturday. He is set to face an arraignment on Nov. 1.
Hong Kong policemen arrested Tan last Thursday at a terminal of a Macau-bound ferry in possession of small quantities of shabu, cocaine and ketamine drugs.
Cuenco said the drug case of Tan is bailable because lawmen found only five grams of shabu in his possession, which a minor offense in the former British colony because the detention penalty does not exceed two months.
"But even he is still an accused, the executive agreement (with Hong Kong) states that he can still be transferred to the requesting government. That is what we're going to pursue in Hong Kong," said Cuenco.
However, since Tan is also facing a criminal case in Hong Kong, Zuņo said the process may not be as easy and it will have to take diplomacy to convince the Hong Kong government to waive their jurisdiction over Tan.
Cuenco agreed with Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales that the arrest warrant issued by Judge Yap against Tan is not enforceable because the Philippine court has no extraterritorial jurisdiction over Hong Kong.
Gonzales told radio dyLA that the better way is to cancel Tan's Philippine passport so that he will become an undocumented alien in Hong Kong and be subjected later to deportation.
Cuenco and Ontog's travel to Hong Kong was agreed during a meeting with officials of the Department of Justice, Department of Foreign Affairs and the AMLC at PDEA headquarters in Quezon City Monday morning.
Mayor Osmeņa wants to help secure the suspects' conviction by giving cash reward, which he said is a legitimate expense.
"It's my business, not yours. We can use our own funds. It's a legitimate expense in the interest of public welfare," he said, when asked where the City will get the funds for the reward.
Osmeņa came out with a paid advertisement in another local daily asking the public if they recognize any of the eight foreign suspects arrested in the raid in Umapad. (With LCR)
(October 5, 2004 issue)
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