CA affirms acquittal of suspected members of Dragon Wu Drug Syndicate

The Court of Appeals of the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the lower court’s ruling dismissing the drug case against suspected members of the Dragon Wu Drug Syndicate behind the operations of a shabu laboratory in Batangas.

In a 23-page ruling, the CA’s eighth division, through Associate Justice Florencio Mamauag, Jr., said it could not “find no reason to annul the judgment of acquittal as there is no shoing that there was a blatant disregard of material prosecution evidence and outward bias in favor of the defense that constitutes grave abuse of discretion resulting in violation of the State’s right to due process.”

“Neither could the proceedings before the trial court be considered an absolute nullity that would render the judgment null and void for it cannot be said that the prosecution was deprived of due process,” it added.

The Rosario, Batangas Regional Trial Court Branch 87 has acquitted Tian Baoquan, Guo Zixing, Xie Jiangsheng, Hong Dy, Jiang Mingshan, Hong Liangyi, Amancio Gallarde, Rosaleo Cesar, Sanny Baguio, Eduardo Lorenzo, and Nestor Baguio for violations of Section 11 and 8, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Section 11 penalizes the illegal possession of dangerous drugs while Section 8 imposes the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine ranging P500,000 to P10,000,000 against any person who will be found to be involved in the manufacture of any dangerous drugs.

The trial court ruled that there was a failure on the part of the prosecution to present evidence showing the direct involvement of the accused in the commission of the crime.

It added that there was also a lack of evidence to show that the accused had freely and consciously possessed the illegal drugs seized.

The court added that there were no equipment, machinery, apparatuses, or other tools found at Hingoso Farms to indicate that there was an ongoing production, preparations, or processing of shabu or any dangerous drugs.

It, however, found Yue Hailong guilty of violation of Section 26 in relation to Section, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act and sentenced him to 15 years of imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000.

Yue purportedly personally supervised the unloading of the wooden crates, drums, boxes, and other articles that contained safrole, a controlled precursor under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

The charges stemmed from the raids conducted by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on a warehouse-like structure and a farm-house structure at the compound of Hingoso Farms on April 6, 2018, in Ibaan, Batangas, which turned out to be shabu laboratories.

The operation also resulted in the seizure of 60 liters of methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as shabu.

Following the acquittal, the Office of the Solicitor General took the case to the Court of Appeals for reversal but the appeals court affirmed the acquittal issued by the Batangas Court.