Representatives from the Department of Justice as well as the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 63 are reportedly coming to Virac this April to oversee the destruction of evidence at the shabu laboratory that was raided by the police seven years ago.
This was disclosed to the local media by Bicol Police Regional Director BGen. Andre Perez Dizon during his brief visit to the island province last Feb. 6, 2024.
“Last week, we had a meeting with the DOJ as they are planning to come over this April for the destruction of the pieces of evidence at the shabu lab, including the building,” RD Dizon said.
He clarified that that the trial of the case against the accused is still going on but the Court has already issued an order allowing the destruction of the evidence.
However, he admitted that the April schedule is still tentative and promised to inform the local media ahead of time if the DOJ confirms the schedule.
He likewise bared that the former shabu lab facility is still being secured by the local police up to this day since it was first discovered on Nov. 26, 2016.
The Bicol police director was accompanied by the police officers involved in the investigation as well as PNP Regional Legal Service chief Col. Edwin Engay in the inspection of the lab at barangay Palta Small.
The Makati City RTC’s order comes five years after the Virac RTC Branch 43, which initially handled the shabu lab case, ordered the destruction of the drugs and equipment in 2018.
Then Judge Lelu P. Contreras actually issued the order in March 2018 but was met with a motion for reconsideration from the prosecution which insinuated that there was unexplained haste in the order.
Denying the motion, the judge later issued another order directing the regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to proceed with the destruction “without further delay,” provided that a representative sample is retained.
Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, provides for the conduct of an ocular inspection of the seized drugs or laboratory equipment within 72 hours of the filing of a criminal case and for the destruction of the items within 24 hours of the inspection.
But the destruction of the shabu lab evidence never happened as the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the transfer of venue of the illegal drug cases to Makati City RTC in June of the same year.
The High Court had granted the request of former DOJ Sec. Vitaliano Aguirre II to transfer the cases against former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit head Augusto Eric Isidoro and eight others.
Aside from Isidoro, the others accused of conspiring to manufacture dangerous drugs are property caretaker Lorenzo Flores Piñera II, Xian Xian Wang, Pido Bonito, Paolo Uy and Jayson Gonzales Uy.
The two Uys, Raymond Lee, Piñera, Paolo Palisoc, Phung Yuan Estorco, and Sheng Wang are separately charged with manufacture and possession of dangerous drugs.