DOJ appeals lack of jurisdiction rule on ‘shabu’ case

Suspect Richard Tan (Chen Julong) attends the Senate hearing on the P6.4-billion “shabu” shipment. —INQUIRER PHOTO

The Department of Justice (DOJ) appealed a decision of the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissing for lack of jurisdiction the drug smuggling case against five of nine suspects in a P6.4-billion shipment of “shabu” (crystal meth), that made it past the Bureau of Customs into a warehouse in Valenzuela in May last year.

In a motion for reconsideration dated Dec. 20 of the Dec. 12 Valenzuela RTC decision, state prosecutors insisted that the Valenzuela court has jurisdiction over the case since the drug shipment was discovered in Valenzuela although it passed through the port of Manila.

The drug shipment came in the middle of the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs and implicated close relatives of the President, including his eldest child Paolo and son-in-law Manases Carpio.

Misdeclared

The drugs were hidden in metal cylinders that were declared as machine parts and seized at a warehouse owned by Hongfei Logistics Group of Companies on 5510 Aster Street, De Castro Subdivision in Valenzuela.

The scandal led to the sacking of Nicanor Faeldon as Customs chief and cases filed against nine suspects, mostly Chinese nationals.

In her ruling on Dec. 12, Valenzuela RTC Branch 171 Judge Maria Nena Santos said the court “lacked jurisdiction” and dismissed the case against suspects Chen Julong (alias Richard Tan or Richard Chen), Li Guang Feng (alias Manny Li), Dong Yi Shen (alias Kenneth Dong) as well as customs fixer Mark Taguba II and broker Teejay Marcellana.

According to the court, the shabu shipment arrived at the Manila International Container Port so the crime of drug smuggling was committed in Manila.

Crime in Valenzuela

State prosecutors under the DOJ, however, argued that the case was within the Valenzuela RTC’s jurisdiction because the discovery of the drugs was made in Valenzuela.

Three of the prosecutors—Aristotle Reyes, Roldan Parrocha and Joan Guevarra-Garcia—said when the shipment arrived at the Manila port, “the crime of importation of dangerous drugs was not yet fully consummated for the plain and apparent reason that it is not yet known at that time that the contents” were drugs.

“It was when the contents of the shipment were discovered to be dangerous drugs that the operation of Republic Act No. 9165 came into play and this occurred in Valenzuela City,” they added. RA 9165 is also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

Prosecutors said the court already has jurisdiction over suspects Li Guang Feng (Manny Li) and Dong Yi (Kenneth Dong).