LIFE TERMS FOR FOUR CHINESE SHABU MAKERS

Four Chinese nationals arrested for their involvement in the
manufacturing shabu at a clandestine laboratory in Pasig City in
November 2001 were meted life sentences yesterday by a Pasig City judge.

Judge Leoncio Janolo of Pasig City regional trial court Branch 264
found accused Chua Chi, Huang Hongwei, Joey Lu and Xingfu Wang guilty
beyond reasonable doubt and ordered them to pay the government a fine
of P1 million each.

Chief drugbuster Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay expressed
satisfaction over Janolo's decision.

"We are satisfied by the judge's decision. We are on the right track
since we are now in the thick of strengthening our legal offensive
against drug syndicates," said Aglipay, the head of the police
Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF).

The latest convicts are the second batch of Chinese nationals involved
in the operation of shabu laboratories in the country to be imprisoned
for life during the term of President Arroyo.

In his 30-page decision, Janolo said prosecution presented
overwhelming evidence showing the accused were engaged in the
manufacture of regulated drugs.

"In this situation, possession of either regulated or prohibited drugs
will be absorbed by the provision on manufacture, in which case, the
liability of the accused thereat shall be treated under the provision
of Section 14-A, the law violated and proved, which applies," said
Janolo in his decision.

The suspects, including three Filipinas, were arrested by a team
headed by Senior Superintendent Federico Laciste Jr., AID-SOT
intelligence chief, while in the act of manufacturing shabu inside a
house at 44 San Agustin street, Capitol 8 Subdivision in Barangay
Kapitolyo, Pasig City last Nov. 6, 2001.

Laciste's team confiscated from the suspects 206 kilograms of shabu
worth P412 million and raw materials and equipment used to manufacture
the illegal drug.

The suspects, Laciste said, also yielded an Uzi sub-machine gun, two
Ingram machine pistols, a claymore mine, an MK fragmentation grenade,
a blasting cap and assorted magazines and ammunition.

Apart from the illegal manufacture of illegal drugs, the four Chinese
nationals were also charged with illegal possession of firearms.

The three Filipinas were charged with illegal possession of shabu. The
other cases are still being heard before Janolo's sala.

Janolo ordered that all evidence of the case, including the seized
shabu, be confiscated and forfeited in favor of the government.

He also ordered the immediate confinement of the four convicts to the
National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

Meanwhile, Janolo cited Laciste, his deputy Superintendent Nelson
Yabut and other members of the arresting teams, and Senior Inspector
Vivian Sumobay, of the PNP crime laboratory, for their dedication to
duty.

Laciste was also credited for arresting last Jan. 18, 2002 of seven
Chinese nationals at a shabu laboratory in San Juan. The suspects were
also meted life sentences by Judge Librado Correa. The four accused
bowed their heads while a clerk of court read Janolo's decision at a
the jampacked improvised sala inside at Rizal Provincial Capitol in
Pasig City.

Their lawyer said he will file a motion for reconderation before
Janolo's sala in 15 days.

"The decision was a temporary setback," lawyer Hipolito Sanez said.