‘Bodegero’ acquitted in P6.4-billion shabu case

MANILA, Philippines — The “bodegero” or warehouse caretaker in Valenzuela implicated in the importation of P6.4 billion worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu in 2017 has been acquitted by the Valenzuela regional trial court (RTC).

In a resolution dated March 18, Valenzuela RTC Judge Arthur Melicor granted Fidel Anoche Dee’s demurrer to evidence after ruling that the warehouse caretaker had no knowledge that the crates being delivered to him contained illegal drugs.

Dee’s legal woes are far from over. He is a co-accused in a related case before the Manila RTC, this time involving drug smuggling in violation of the Customs Modernization Act.

The judge’s resolution confirmed Dee’s defense that he was merely a fall guy of the Chinese businessmen and Customs fixer Mark Ruben Taguba, the principal players in the 602-kilo shabu shipment that landed at the Manila port and was delivered to a warehouse in Valenzuela before being seized by authorities in May 2017.

Of the principal players, only Taguba, his consignee Eirene Mae Tatad and middleman Kenneth Dong are detained to face charges. Hongfei Logistics owner Chen Julong and his four Chinese coaccused remain at large.

Dee was charged with illegal possession of 100 kilos of shabu that were subjected to controlled delivery.

Even though Dee’s name was written on short bond papers taped to the seized crates containing the shabu, he was not included in the import documents, former Bureau of Customs (BOC) intelligence chief Neil Anthony Estrella testified in court. Estrella resigned at the height of the controversy.

When the crates containing 100 kilos of shabu were sent under controlled delivery to Dee’s warehouse in Barangay Ugong, the operatives admitted to having Dee sign a document they said was a delivery receipt, but was actually a letter of authority from the BOC commissioner to allow an inspection.

When the crates arrived at the warehouse, Dee denied receiving them, even daring the officials to open them to prove that there was shabu inside, the court noted.

“There is absolutely no showing that Dee knew that what was being delivered to him were drugs, and that he willingly accepted the delivery. In truth, it was his mere contracted duty as paid warehouse caretaker or bodegero to accept the delivery of a shipment… Thus, it cannot be said that he had the intent to possess the said drugs,” the judge said.

The operatives also were not authorized by the BOC commissioner to conduct a controlled delivery, according to the judge.

“There was not even a pretense that a delivery was being made, because what the agents showed the accused was not a legitimate delivery receipt of the importer, but a letter of authority to inspect his warehouse… It would even appear that the men were there to inspect something that they themselves had brought with them,” the judge said.