Court orders release of shabu lab suspects

A Quezon City judge ordered yesterday the release of 10 suspects arrested during a raid of a shabu laboratory in Xavierville, Subdivision last July after the prosecution failed to present the lone witness against them in court.

Judge Emilio Leachon Jr. of Branch 24 ordered the release of Jimmy Chua, Man Chuck Li, Willy Ang, Tom Chua, Lai Nar Li, San Li Chua, Concepcion Andoon, Jessilyn Lamosa, Sally Ong and Jamil Maramanay from a Quezon City jail.

In a seven-page decision, Leachon also ordered the quashing of search warrant No. 02-2922 issued on July 16, 2002 by Manila Judge Enrico Lanzanas and the quashing of all the information filed in the case against the accused. These include the information and testimony of witness Roberto Sanchez, the alleged informant of agents of the Regional Intelligence Special Service Office in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan.

Last July 11, the informant came to the office of PO3 Albert Amurao at Camp Bagong Diwa, claiming Sally Ong and Jimmy Chua were engaged in illegal drug activities. He also gave a resealable plastic container with traces of suspected shabu. The plastic was later tested positive for the drug.

Amurao testified before the court that Sanchez was not present during the raid on the houses located at Gonzales Street, Xavierville, and Salvador Street, Varsity Hills. He added that the last time he saw Sanchez was during a ceremony at Malacañang late July.

He was able to talk to Sanchez, but the latter told him that he was "a little bit afraid" because there were suspicious men loitering around his residence. Amurao advised Sanchez to take precautionary measures because he will be needed in the case. Sanchez then told Amurao that he would lie low for a while.

Leachon questioned the issuance of the search warrant in Manila, noting that it was not filed with the court which has primary jurisdiction over the case.

The court also said that failure to present Sanchez, the alleged informant, constrains it to accept the proposition "that application’s witness is fictitious and non-existent."

This was bolstered by the fact that when the witness was subpoenaed by the court at his address as stated in his affidavit, no person in the name of Roberto Sanchez, was found, "and there was no such address as No. 2080 Leveriza Street, Malate.

"On this score, the court has no more recourse or alternative except to quash the informations thus filed and order the release of the accused considering that the evidence secured were allegedly seized and inadmissible in evidence," Leachon said.