THERE will be no special treatment for four Chinese nationals who have been convicted of operating a "floating shabu laboratory" on board a 50-meter fish carrier vessel off the coast of Subic, Malacañang assured on Thursday, December 20.
The assurance was made nearly a week after the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74 found Win Fai Lo, Shu Fook Leung, Kam Wah Kwok, and Kwok Tung Chan "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" of drug possession and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, however, said the four Chinese men would be accorded "proper" and "humane" treatment.
The government is also considering the deportation of the four men.
"Similarly, we also give assurance to their families that they will be given proper treatment in prison, and they will be humanely treated in accordance with the Bill of Rights under our Constitution, as well as with appropriate Philippine laws and rules," the Palace official said.
"We are also coordinating with the Department of Justice on the possibility of deportation to finally rid this country of these foreign criminals," he added.
Panelo said the court ruling was a "clear proof of the government’s unrelenting war against illegal drugs, which spares no one who violates our laws."
"We assure the public that no special treatment will be accorded to the four Chinese drug convicts as they serve their life sentence behind bars for operating a floating shabu laboratory in Subic," Panelo said in a statement.
The four Chinese nationals from Hong Kong were arrested on July 11, 2016 aboard an umarked vessel in the waters off Calapandayan village in Subic.
Authorities seized a total of 467.8 grams of shabu, or methamphetamine hydrochloride, and a hydrogenator, an equipment used in the manufacture of illegal drugs.
The Olongapo court dismissed the charges of illegal drugs manufacturing against the four Chinese men "for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt." (SunStar Philippines)