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Friday, December 07, 2007
Cuenco testifies at shabu lab trial
By Karlon N. Rama
CEBU CITY -- Representative Antonio Cuenco took the witness stand Thursday in the trial on the Mandaue shabu “mega-laboratory” case, summoned as the second defense witness by lawyer Noel Archival.
Wearing a golden-hued Barong Tagalog, Cuenco addressed the court and as a result became the subject of an objection, even before Archival could fire the first question.
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“I want to know what reason I am here for,” the congressman demanded while walking towards the witness’ chair. He asked if he was to be a hostile witness or a friend of the court.
He was immediately, albeit gently, reminded that he cannot directly address the court and that the prosecution can make the necessary manifestations in his behalf.
And when he answered the first question, on whether he was familiar with one of the documents that formed part of the case records, he earned a second gentle reminder, to stop giving narratives and respond with direct answers only.
Cuenco admitted that he, together with Representative Roque Ablan, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, and Superintendent Amado Marquez went to the Mandaue City Jail last September 30, 2004, bringing with them a photo of Calvin de Jesus Tan.
They then “interviewed” Allan Yap Garcia and Joseph Yu regarding Tan’s alleged involvement in their operation. (Archival represents both men in the trial.)
The interview, Cuenco said, lasted 15 minutes and was held inside a cubicle in the office of the Mandaue City Jail warden, without a lawyer for Yu and Garcia present.
He acknowledged that he did not advise them of their rights to counsel because they were not prosecuting the two. But he admitted that, at the time of the interview, he was already “morally convinced” and “certain” that the two were guilty of the crime “because they were caught red-handed.”
Original 13
The September 30 interview, which was reportedly recorded by an ABS-CBN news crew, happened a day after the charge sheet impleading the original 13 accused reached the Regional Trial Court.
The 13 are Yu, Hung Chin Chang (Simon Lao), Siew Kin Weng, Liew Kam Song, Lin Li Ku, Bao Xia Fu, Wu Tiao Yi, Tao Fei, Liu Bo, Garcia, Joseph Lopez, and warehouse owners Andy Ng and Richard Ong.
Cuenco admitted that he knew the RTC had taken cognizance of the case but “didn’t think this (the interview) was sub judice” because they “weren’t out to prosecute them (Yu and Garcia)” but only to find out who their “local contacts” were.
(The sub judice rule prohibits public comment on a case pending in court, on pain of contempt.)
That interview resulted in Representative Ablan and Superintendent Marquez’s issuing a joint affidavit that, in turn, resulted in the amendment of the original complaint and the inclusion of Tan as a respondent.
As a result, Tan was extradited from Hong Kong to Cebu to face charges.
Cuenco insisted Thursday that no rights were violated.
Only link
Other than the Ablan-Marquez joint affidavit, defense lawyer Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu said in an interview after the hearing that no other evidence links Tan to the supposed shabu plant that was raided last September 24, 2004.
Dalawampu added they will pursue the angle even if it means having to ask the court to subpoena Congressman Ablan.
Dalawampu, who represents Tan, also cross-examined Cuenco, who told the court he “can’t recall” if the Ablan-Marquez joint affidavit was signed during the September 30 visit.
Garcia wrote and signed a letter mentioning Tan’s supposed involvement in the shabu operation, and the letter was attached to the Ablan-Marquez joint affidavit, but Cuenco also said he “can’t recall” if the letter was prepared and signed during the September 30 interview.
Dalawampu, in the course of the hearing, rephrased the question several times but got the same answer: “I can’t recall. Maybe it was signed there, maybe it was not.”
Based on case records, the joint affidavit was attached to a letter asking the Office of the Mandaue City Prosecutor to amend the September 29 information charging the 13 original accused, so that Tan can be included.
The motion was endorsed to the court and Judge Marlyn Yap approved it.
New document
Cuenco, during Thursday’s hearing, also brought with him a photocopy of Tan’s mug shot and, at one point, took it out from a folder and waved it.
The document, he said, had the written testimony of Yu, written in Chinese, naming Tan as the man who bankrolled the operation. He said the document had been with him since 2004 but got lost in his files and was only recently recovered.
He also presented a photocopy of the same document with the added English translation made by Antonio Ho, his interpreter.
When the document was read aloud for entry into the transcript of stenographic notes, it quoted Yu as requesting for amnesty and protection in exchange for testifying for the prosecution.
Based on the translation, however, Yu said that Tan instructed him in Guangdong, China, to secure a bodega for plastic in Cebu and gave him the money to do it.
“Based on their own translation, it was a bodega for plastics,” Dalawampu said after the hearing. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (December 7, 2007 issue)
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