Former Bureau of Customs head and now Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Nicanor Faeldon maintained that he did nothing wrong in the operation that lead to the seizure of P6.4 billion worth of shabu in Valenzuela in May last year.
The said drug shipment have an estimated weight of 602.2 kilograms
“I have done nothing wrong, hinuli ko ’yan e so dapat magpasalamat kayo sakin [kundi] nasa kalsada dapat yan kundi ko nahuli,” he said Wednesday.
He added that the people behind the operation should be commended as they have received the information at that time about the illegal drugs, with an estimated weight of 602.2 kilograms, by 10:30 a.m. and managed to seize it within three and half hours.
The Ombudsman’s Special Panel of Fact-Finding Investigators recommended the filing of criminal charges for violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) against Faeldon, Import Assessment Service Director Milo Maestrecampo, Risk Management Office Chief Larribert Hilario and Accounts Management Office Chief Mary Grace Tecson-Malabed.
The panel also recommended the filing of administrative charges of Grave Misconduct against Faeldon and BoC officials Joel Pinawin and Oliver Valiente, as well as Gross Neglect of Duty and Grave Misconduct against Tecson-Malabed and Maestrecampo.
The panel also recommended the filing of additional charges of Usurpation of Official Functions (Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code), violation of Section 32 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (Republic Act No. 9165) against Faeldon, and violation of Section 3(a) of Republic Act No. 3019 against Faeldon and BOC Director Neil Anthony Estrella.
On May 26, 2017, joint operatives from the BOC-Customs Intelligence and Investigative Services, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency conducted a raid on a warehouse owned by the Philippine Hongfei Logistics Group of Companies, Inc. in Valenzuela City.
The raid involved the controlled delivery of a shipment declared to contain printing cylinders.
Meanwhile, the case of the discovery of the P6.4-B shabu shipment looked headed to the trash bin after another Valenzuela court junked the drug charges against nine people who were earlier alleged to have links with the illegal contraband.
The court threw out the case after it accused government lawyers for forum shopping.
In April 23, the case of the nine accused on the alleged transportation and delivery of dangerous drugs were dismissed by Judge Arthur Melicor of the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court’s Branch 284.
Melicor granted the motions to dismiss filed by Hongfei Logistics Inc. owner Chen Ju Long and Customs brokers Mark Taguba and Teejay Marcellana.
The new order comes months after another Valenzuela court — Branch 171 — dismissed a drug importation case against the same people for lack of jurisdiction, as it argued that the alleged importation took place in Manila, not Valenzuela.
The prosecution then refiled the importation case in a Manila court, where Taguba and shipment consignee Eirene Tatad pleaded not guilty. Their pretrial hearing is set for May 25.
“The acts separately alleged in the two informations are a series of acts performed to achieve a common ultimate design, which culminated in the delivery and deposit of the five crates in the Hongfei warehouse,” Melicor’s order said.
Melicor also noted that the government lawyers’ filing and refiling of cases using the same facts and arguments against the same people indicates forum shopping.
“Filing a case for importation in Manila after the court in Valenzuela City has dismissed an earlier case for importation for lack of jurisdiction, and then filing another case, this time for transportation, before this court involving the same accused and based on the same facts, issues and arguments, clearly bears the hallmarks of forum shopping, betraying the prosecutors’ intent to secure favorable judgment from different courts,” the order said.
It added that splitting the act of importation into two criminal offenses — importation in the Manila court and transportation and delivery in his court — “violates the well-honored policy against multiplicity of suits.”
In his motion, Chen, in maintaining his innocence, wanted the case thrown out for lack of jurisdiction, as he pointed out that the case for transportation and delivery of dangerous drugs was merely an amended version of the previously dismissed case.
“…the premature filing of this case renders the prosecution liable for forum shopping and violation of his right to due process,” the court’s order quoted his motion as saying.
In their separate pleading, Taguba and Marcellana also accused the prosecution lawyers of forum shopping, saying that the violation for Section 5 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act was not included in the complaints filed with the Department of Justice and was not a subject of the preliminary investigation in the first place.
“Thus, the accused were never given an opportunity to controvert the allegations therein, in violation of their right to due process of law,” the court said in reference to the brokers’ motion to dismiss.