DOJ Assistant Secretary Eliseo Cruz said he could not answer as to the status of the shabu lab case being heard at the Makati City Regional Trial Court but he assured that the destruction of the evidence does not mean the case will soon be decided.
“It is all pending before the RTC, tuloy-tuloy po ito,” he replied during the press conference held during the brief program last May 29, 2024 at barangay Palta Small in Virac.
He likewise confirmed that the two men arrested in connection with the clandestine shabu laboratory – former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official Atty. Augusto Eric Isidoro and farm caretaker Lorenzo Flores Piñera II – are still detained at the Makati City Jail.
The other accused in the case – Xian Xian Wang, Pido Bonito, Paulo Uy, Jayson Gonzales, Paulo Wee Palisoc, Phung Yuan Estorco, Sheng Wang and Raymond Lee – remain fugitives.
As to the amended complaint that included other personalities, it is still unresolved after a motion to quash the arrest warrants and dismiss the complaint was filed and is still pending before the Supreme Court.
A reliable source familiar with the case said that both the prosecution and defense have already made their formal offer of evidence, with the prosecution still to decide whether to present rebuttal evidence after which the case will be ready for the decision of the Court.
Atty. Isidoro, it is claimed, is detained in a regular cell along with four other persons deprived of liberty.
The former NBI regional director ‘s health is stable although there were instances when the lawyer, through his counsel, petitioned the judge for temporary liberty to be brought to a health facility when he felt sick.
It may be recalled that a few months after the criminal cases against Isidoro and the nine other accused were filed before the Virac RTC, the police filed an amended complaint adding 14 new accused based on the affidavit executed by the alleged former bodyguard of the NBI official.
Among those fingered by witness Ernesto Tabor were Atty. Ulpiano Sarmiento III, who owned the 40-hectare property on which the 1,000-sq. meter shabu lab compound sits; brothers Jardin Brian “Boboy” Wong and Joseph Al Randie :”Tip-Tip” Wong; former Mayor Constantino Huit Cordial of Caramoan, Camarines Sur who allegedly allowed the use of his speedboat to transport three drums of shabu chemicals to Catanduanes and traded at least two kilos of shabu every month; former Albay provincial board member Snookie Imperial, who Tabor said also traded two kilos of shabu monthly; cargo truck operator Noel Sampag, who later succumbed to a heart attack; Isidoro’s wife Angelica Balmadrid Isidoro, who leased the property to Jayson Uy; as well as five other accessories – Tore Lorenzo Flores Piñera IV, Roel Samonte, Dennis Samonte, Peter Doe and John Doe.
In a press conference during the presentation of the amended complaint in 2017, then PNP Regional Director Chief Supt. Marlon Buenafe claimed that the shabu laboratory began operating in 2015 and produced at least 300 kilos of the drug a day. This was equivalent to P1.5 billion in street value at that time, with the production was distributed to Bicol and to Muntinlupa, Metro Manila.