THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DoJ) has appealed to Judge Arthur B. Melicor of the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 284 to reinstate the charges against the nine allegedly involved in the shipment last year of P6.4 billion worth of illegal drug shabu (methampethamine) from China.
The case against Bureau of Customs (BoC) fixer Mark G. Taguba II and eight others were dismissed over claims of forum shopping committed by prosecutors.
A group of state prosecutors led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rassendell F. Gingoyon, in a 19-page motion for reconsideration dated May 8 and released to media on May 14, argued that “the crime of transportation of dangerous drugs is a separate and distinct crime and under the circumstances at hand cannot be said to be a part of the crime of importation of drugs.”
The judge, in his ruling, said prosecutors committed forum shopping when they filed similar cases for illegal drug importation against the same respondents in a Manila court and in another Valenzuela court.
Mr. Taguba — along with his co-accused Teejay A. Marcellana, Chen Julong, Li Guang Feng, Manny Li, Kenneth Dong, Eirene Mae A. Tatad, Chen I-Min, Jhu Ming Jyun, and Chen Rong Huan — were charged with violation of Section 5, in relation to Section 2(a) of Republic Act (RA) No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for transportation and delivery of illegal drugs.
The imported shipment was seized by the BoC and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in May last year from a warehouse in Valenzuela City.
“Since RA No. 9165, as amended, specifically and distinctly punishes the crime of importation and transportation under two separate sections thereof, the prosecution was justified in filing two separate informations for the separate violations of RA No. 9165 committed by the above-named accused as far as the subject dangerous drugs is concerned. In doing so, no forum shopping has been committed and the prosecution did not violate the rule on municipality of suits,“ reads the appeal.
“For forum shopping to exist, the actions must involve the same transaction, including the essential facts and circumstances thereof, and must raise identical causes of actions, subject matter and issues. The mere filing of two or more cases based on the same incident does not necessarily constitute forum shopping,” it continued.
The motion pointed out: “For importation of dangerous drugs to be committed, the following elements must be present, namely: (1) the importation or bringing into the Philippines of any regulated or prohibited drug; and (2) the importation or bringing into the Philippines of said drugs was without authority of law. Clearly, the transportation or delivery is not an essential ingredient or part of this crime.” — Dane Angelo M. Enerio

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