DOJ appeals Olongapo RTC ruling in ‘floating shabu lab’ case

December 30, 2018

The Department of Justice has asked the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court to reverse its decision clearing four Chinese nationals arrested in a “floating shabu laboratory” off the coast of Subic, Zambales in 2016 in one of two drug cases filed against them.

In an 11-page partial motion for reconsideration filed on Friday, a panel of prosecutors appealed the decision of Olongapo City RTC Branch 74 that convicted Win Fai Lo, Shu Fook Leung, Kam Wah Kwok and Kwok Tung Chan on charges of possession of 467.8 kilos of shabu, but acquitted them on charges of manufacture of illegal drugs.

The prosecutors questioned the finding of Judge Roline Jabalde the four Chinese were not guilty of the  charge because the hydrogenator seized by authorities inside the vessel, which according to a chemist from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was used solely for shabu manufacturing, was "non-functional" during the arrest.

“The Honorable Court must know that the law does not require that the laboratory equipment found in the clandestine laboratory must be operational. The four accused who were arrested on board and made it appear that the boat was a fishing vessel with legitimate business operations and concealed its actual purpose as a clandestine laboratory should be held liable for conspiring and confederating with one another to manufacture dangerous drugs,” stated the motion filed by the DOJ panel.

The prosecutors said the discovery of hydrogenator inside the vessel was enough to say it was a clandestine laboratory based on  PDEA Memorandum Circular 2016-019.

The prosecutors said they appealed the court's verdict because it could have serious repercussions on drug cases and could be used by other arrested suspects to get away from the law.

The Olongapo  RTC found the four Chinese nationals who were arrested on July 11, 2016 guilty of possession of illegal drugs and sentenced them to life imprisonment during promulgation last Dec. 14. DMS