Barbers wants review of court decision absolving Yu Yuk Lai daughter from drug raps

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chair of the House committee on dangerous drugs, on Saturday pressed for the review of the court ruling that cleared Diana Yu Uy, daughter of convicted “drug queen” Yu Yuk Lai, of illegal drug charges.

Uy was ordered released from detention after the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 49 cleared her of her involvement in drug trafficking, citing in its ruling the alleged irregularities committed by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) during the 2017 raid that led to her arrest.

READ: Yu Yuk Lai’s daughter cleared of drug charges

“Nakakalungkot iyon. Medyo may malaking problema iyan kaya dapat ma-review iyan,” Barbers told reporters. “Malaking dagok iyon sa kampanya natin laban sa ilegal na droga,” Barbers, who is the son of the late crime buster, Interior secretary and Senator Robert Barbers.

(That’s saddening. The ruling has a big problem and it needs to be reviewed… It’s a big blow to our campaign against illegal drugs.)

He said he will ask the PDEA to take legal actions to pursue justice concerning Uy’s case.

According to Barbers, the court ruling also appears to be “shocking” since strong pieces of evidence were found during the raid inside Uy’s house on November 6, 2017.

The court, however, said that the agents had one hour to plant evidence against Uy before the actual raid. PDEA has also denied this claim.

READ: PDEA: No planting of evidence in 2017 arrest of Yu Yuk Lai daughter

Barbers also shrugged off Uy’s claim that the agents took from her P500,000 to cancel the raid, saying that this plot is commonly seen in movies.

“Iyang mga ganyang kwento ay kwentong kutsero na iyan. Kwentong barbero na iyan. Ibig sabihin, [it’s a] usual flimsy excuse nga mga ganyang klaseng sindikato,” he said.

(Those stories are nonsense. It’s a usual flimsy excuse of those kinds of syndicates.) /jpv