DOJ asks Valenzuela RTC to reconsider decision on P6.4-B shabu case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court (RTC) to reconsider its decision dismissing the drug charges against those involved in the 2017 shipment of P6.4-billion worth of shabu from China.

In a motion for reconsideration, the DOJ said the dismissal of the case against accused Chinese businessman Chen Julong alias Richard Tan and customs brokers Mark Taguba and Teejay Marcellana “harmfully affects the anti-drug campaign” of the Duterte administration.

READ: Valenzuela RTC dismisses P6.4B shabu case vs 9 accused due to forum shopping

In a decision dated last April 23, Judge Arthur Melicor of the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 284 junked criminal case against the accused, citing “forum shopping.”

Forum shopping happens when a case is filed in two separate courts in hopes that one of the courts will rule favorably.

Melicor said the DOJ prosecutors committed forum shopping when they filed a drug importation case against the same people, with the same arguments, with a Manila court, aside from the Valenzuela RTC.

The action of the DOJ panel “clearly bears the hallmarks of forum shopping,” Melicor said.

Not the same

However, in a motion for reconsideration dated May 8, a DOJ panel of prosecutors, led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rassendell Rex Gingoyon, disputed Melicor’s ruling.

The panel argued that the two cases – the one in Manila and the other in the Valenzuela RTC – have “distinct and separate elements” based on two separate provisions under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002: drug importation (Section 4) and drug transportation (Section 5).

“What counts is whether the offenders violated the provisions of the law. In this case, the answer is in the affirmative as the above-accused in their concerted acts, in conspiracy with each other, violated Section 4 and Section 5, both under R.A. No. 9165,” read the 19-page motion for reconsideration.

“As such, it is immaterial whether the acts of the respondents alleged in the two informations (charge sheet) were for the purpose of achieving a common ultimate design or intent for what is material is that under the applicable law which is R.A. No. 9165, the said acts constitute separate and distinct offenses,” state prosecutors noted.

“Filing two separate information in two different jurisdictions does not definitely constitute forum shopping or in contravention with the rule against multiplicity of suits,” the prosecutors added.

No effect on Manila case

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier said the recent decision of the Valenzuela court will not affect the case at the Manila RTC.

“The dismissal of the Valenzuela case for transporting illegal drugs has no bearing whatsoever on the pending cases in Manila for illegal importation of dangerous drugs,” he said.

“Those two cases are distinct from each other and are based on different provisions of the dangerous drugs law,” he explained.

The case stemmed from the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) discovery of the shabu shipment based on a tip from the Anti-Smuggling Bureau of the China Customs.

The drugs were discovered at the Hong Fei Logistics warehouse in Valenzuela City on May 26, 2017.

The 604-kilogram shabu shipment is one of the biggest hauls of smuggled drugs in the country.

It was also the subject of a lengthy congressional probe that led to the resignation of former Bureau of Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon. /vvp