The Court of Appeals has sustained its decision upholding the indictment of Chinese businessman Chen Julong, alias “Richard Tan,” in the drug cases arising from the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that slipped past through the Bureau of Customs in May 2017.
In a two-page resolution released, the CA’s Former 11th Division dismissed the appeal filed by Chen on its decision in August last year that denied his petition seeking the dismissal of the cases for importation of dangerous drugs.
The appellate court affirmed the decision of Manila City Regional Trial Court Branch 46 denying the petitioner’s motion to quash the criminal charges.
“The issues raised in the instant motion are but mere reiterations of the grounds already judiciously evaluated and passed upon in our aforementioned decision. We, therefore, find no compelling reason to modify or reverse the same,” stated the ruling penned by Associate Justice Ramon Garcia.
“While he enumerated several grounds justifying this failure to file a motion for reconsideration, he failed to establish that this case falls under any of the said exceptions.”
In his petition, Chen accused the Department of Justice of forum shopping for refiling the criminal case before the Manila RTC after the Valenzuela RTC Branch 171, where the case was first filed, dismissed the charges.
However, the CA held that the Manila RTC was correct in dismissing the motion to quash filed by Chen.
It explained that the Valenzuela RTC junked the case merely for lack of jurisdiction.
The 604-kilogram “shabu” shipment from China was recovered at the Hong Fei Logistics warehouse in Valenzuela City on May 26, 2017. Chen is one of the owners of the company.
The illegal shipment was investigated by Congress and led to the resignation of top Customs officials, including then Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon.
