DOJ clears PDEA ‘big fish’

MANILA, Philippines - In a case reminiscent of the “Alabang Boys” controversy that rocked the Department of Justice (DOJ) in late 2008, a Chinese drug suspect tagged by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as a “big fish” has been cleared of criminal charges.

In a 15-page resolution obtained by The STAR, the DOJ dismissed the drug pushing charge against Mark Sy Tan and dropped the case against him filed with the Quezon City regional trial court.

Tan was arrested in July last year after allegedly eluding a PDEA drug bust five months earlier, when Clarence Chen Go was reportedly caught in the act of selling a kilo of shabu worth P3.6 million outside a bar at the corner of Tomas Morato and Timog Avenues.

The PDEA alleged that Tan has been involved in a “big-time” drug syndicate’s P200-billion operation. The payment for the drugs sold would go through Tan’s bank accounts, investigators said.

The agency said his bank accounts from 2005 up to last year had transacted some P132 million, prompting the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze his accounts when only P17.7 million was found.

Conflicting claims

The DOJ rejected the PDEA’s claims, citing “conflicting versions” in the agency’s allegation linking Tan to the syndicate. 

The resolution, signed by Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, said the deposits in Tan’s account “would not prove (his) participation in the conspiracy.”

The DOJ said the record does not have sufficient evidence for a finding of probable cause, “but is replete with factual allegations that cannot be believed, and perhaps are even perjured.”

Baraan reversed the findings of Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera and Prosecution Attorney Anna Noreen Devanadera upon automatic review, as provided under the government’s rules on drug cases.

Reinvestigation

Tan was already facing trial in the Quezon City RTC along with Go but sought reinvestigation of the charges by the DOJ. The RTC granted his motion and ordered reinvestigation because he was not given a chance to answer the charges in regular preliminary investigation.

During the preliminary investigation, he claimed that he gets his income from a family business of subcontracting and marketing of garments and also from a money-transfer business that serves fellow Chinese residing or doing business here.

Tan said he was implicated in the case simply when PDEA agents relied on instructions given by another drug suspect on the payment for the illegal drugs sold to the agents.

 He told the DOJ that his transactions with clients are made via telephone where he does not get to personally meet his clients.

‘Something fishy’

When asked for a reaction, PDEA agent-on-case Jonathan Morales immediately questioned the DOJ resolution.

“There is something fishy in this case. We presented evidence during the preliminary investigation, so we don’t know how the DOJ arrived at such a conclusion,” he told The STAR in an interview.

Morales said they hope Congress would look into the case.

 â€œThis is bigger than the Alabang Boys case, and we are once again losing case against a big fish,” he said. 

The Alabang Boys case had put the DOJ in the limelight after state prosecutors and top officials were questioned for lapses and improprieties in handling the case and accused of accepting bribes, allegedly for dismissing the charges before Christmas in 2008.

The controversy led to the issuance of Administrative Order 253 by the former administration in January 2009, directing an automatic review by the Office of the President on all decisions and resolutions involving the dismissal of drug cases.

After a fact-finding probe on the bribery charge, the Palace reversed the findings of DOJ and ordered the filing of cases against the three suspects in court.  They were, however, later acquitted over the PDEA’s mishandling of evidence.