Ouano kin says ruling cleared their name

The Ouano family of Mandaue  yesterday expressed relief over the verdict  in the  2004 mega shabu lab case,  saying it finally cleared their name.

“After eight years of humiliation and demonization, justice has been served. Not a single case was filed nor was there any mention by the state witness of my father’s involvement,” said Mandaue City Councilor Lollipop Ouano-Dizon.

“We have forgiven those people who are so quick to judge, but don’t bother to find out the truth. May God bless them all,” Dizon said in a text message.

Her father Thadeo Ouano  was mayor of Mandaue in 2004 when the warehouse that concealed a shabu laboratory  was discovered.
Thadeo is now a member of the Provincial Board.

A  state witness,  Hung Chin Chang, a.k.a. Simon Lao,  gave  key testimony that led to the conviction of eleven cohorts, including the financier of the drug laboratory.

The former Mandaue mayor  was never charged, but Ouano  was the focus of wide speculation that he  had knowledge of the shabu operation given his tight hold on   business enterprises in the city.
The clandestine shabu laboratoy was located along a  national highway a few blocks from City Hall.

Andy Ng, owner of the  warehouse in barangay Umapad, was  the son of the late Councilor Martin Ng,  Ouano’s  political ally. Andy  Ng was acquitted in a related case involving another warehouse in Mandaue City used by the drug ring.

Medellin town Mayor Ricardo  Ramirez, who was then Mandaue City vice mayor in 2004,  said the  drug controversy cast suspicion over Ouano’s  involvement.

Ramirez said  this was the reason  they didn’t stand a chance during the councilors’ league elections.

Lao’s lawyer Alex Tolentino said his client will remain at the Cebu provincial jail  while they prepare his travel documents and have his name removed from the Bureau of Immigration watch list.

Chinese national Calvin de Jesus Tan, the alleged financier of the shabu laboratory,  said he would  contest the court decision.

Tan’s lawyer Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu said she will file a motion for reconsideration.

She said documents and Tan’s cell phone were never presented by the prosecution.

“The court  relied almost 100 percent on the testimonies of Lao and Morteza Tomaddoni (the informant of the operation),” she said.
The defense lawyer Lao just wanted to be acquitted while Tamaddoni  was after the reward money, which is 10 percent of the street value of the confiscated drugs of P1.3 billion.

The lawyer said Lao should not have been used as a state witness because he “is the most guilty.” “There are those who pointed him as the person who hired all the people working in the laboratory,” she said.

Newly appointed Court of Appeals Associate Justice Marilyn Lagura-Yap, the judge who sentenced the nine foreigners and two Filipinos in the drug  case, lamented that the drug menace remains a major threat to society.

“It makes me feel sad. You realize how big is the problem. Drugs are just around the corner. It’s overwhelming,” Yap said.

The confiscated shabu was loaded in a truck and taken to  Naga City where it was destroyed, she said.

Eleven of the 12 accused in the case were sentenced to  life imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of P10 million each.