Court clears daughter of convicted ‘drug queen’

A Manila judge on Thursday acquitted of drug charges Diana Yu Uy, daughter of convicted “drug queen” Yu Yuk Lai and ordered her immediate release from detention.

In his ruling, presiding Judge Daniel C. Villanueva of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 49 said that the search warrant used by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents to search Uy’s house on Nov. 6, 2017 was “invalid for lack of probable cause.”

He also said that the P10 million worth of “shabu” or crystal meth seized from the accused’s house on Gen. Solano Street in San Miguel, Manila —just 600 meters away from Malacañang Palace—was “inadmissible as evidence” because it was “planted.”

According to Villanueva, he found “strong compelling evidence” to conclude that “the closed-circuit television cameras inside Uy’s house were tampered with and the alleged discovered contraband was planted by said agents.”

No real, thorough search

He said that based on the same evidence, “no real, thorough search was conducted” and the operation was done without the presence of the accused or independent witnesses.

Villanueva also concluded that the drug-sniffing dogs used by the PDEA agents failed to detect any narcotics during the raid and the “seized contraband” might not have been real drugs.

He also noted that one of the agents took a P500,000 bribe from the accused.

“Whereas, in view of all the foregoing, it having been found and declared that the search warrant was invalid for lack of probable cause, and that all of the alleged contraband are inadmissible as evidence, and for lack of merit of the evidence in chief, and on the ground of reasonable doubt, the court hereby acquits the accused…,” Villanueva said.

Uy was arrested in a raid on her house by PDEA agents who said they seized nearly 700 grams of white crystalline substance which later tested positive for shabu.

Her arrest became more controversial after it was exposed that some government security personnel had been assigned to her.

The two police officers from the Police Security and Protection Group of the Philippine National Police had been guarding her house for seven years.

According to authorities, Uy was helping out in her mother’s illegal drug trade inside the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City where the latter has been detained for 20 years.

Yu was arrested in 1998 after she was caught selling 3 kilos of shabu in a buy-bust operation. Upon her conviction, she was transferred to CIW in 2000.

Still active

But despite her incarceration, Yu allegedly remained active in the drug trade.

In a separate but simultaneous operation on the day her daughter was arrested, PDEA agents seized more than P15 million worth of shabu, gadgets and cash from Yu’s cell at CIW.

She earned the moniker of drug queen for reportedly controlling the narcotics trade at the detention facility.

PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon said they were awaiting the recommendation of their lawyers on what action to take on the court decision. — MARIEJO S. RAMOS