Judge assigned in Cagayan de Oro as new CA justice

THE judge who convicted nine foreigners and two Filipinos in  the 2004  shabu mega lab case in Mandaue City will hold office in Cagayan de Oro for  her new post.

Judge Marilyn Lagura-Yap was sworn into office yesterday as an associate justice of the Court of Appeals  23rd division.

With her four children as witnesses, the 54-year-old Yap took her oath before Associate Justice Gabriel Ingles of the CA in Cebu City.

The rites were held in the courtroom of Regional Trial Court Branch 28 in Mandaue City where Yap served as presiding judge for 12 years.

“You realize you’re at the crossroads.  I move forward to a different direction and I’m making this turn,” Yap said in a  interview later.

A day earlier,  Yap promulgated the much-awaited verdict in the 2004 shabu laboratory case, sentencing 11 men to life imprisonment and a P10-million fine each.

The accused were found guilty of operating a laboratory for the manufacture of  shabu in barangay Umapad, Mandaue City, on Sept. 24, 2004.

Shabu worth P1.3 billion was recovered in the warehouse along with machinery and chemicals capable of producing an even larger volume.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, who attended the oath taking rites yesterday,  lauded Yap for a job well done.

Yap graduated cum laude from  pre-law studies at the University of the Philippines College of Cebu.

She earned her law degree at the University of San Carlos.

Yap served as prosecutor in Mandaue City for nine to 10 years.

She became a trial court judge in Mandaue City in 2000. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol