DOJ indicts ex-cop Acierto, others over shabu in magnetic lifters case

A panel of prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended the filing of drug importation charges against dismissed police colonel Eduardo Acierto and seven others in connection with the massive shabu shipments found hidden in magnetic lifters last year.

In an April 8 resolution seen Wednesday, the panel recommended that Acierto, ex-Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) deputy chief Ismael Fajardo, and ex-Customs intelligence agent Jimmy Guban be charged in court with violation of Section 4 in relation to Sections 28 and 31 of the dangerous drugs law.

Acierto recently grabbed headlines when he claimed that Michael Yang, a former presidential adviser, was involved in the illegal drug trade. President Rodrigo Duterte has vouched for Yang's innocence.

The former police official was reportedly dismissed from the service due to his alleged involvement in the anomalous purchase of AK-47 rifles that were later found in the possession of the communist New People's Army.

The DOJ resolution stems from the panel's preliminary investigation of complaints filed by the PDEA and the National Bureau of Investigation against more than 40 people in connection with the smuggling of billions of pesos worth of shabu into the Philippines last year.

Two of the cylindrical magnetic lifters that concealed the contraband was discovered at the Manila International Container Port last August. The following day, authorities found four empty lifters believed to have contained P11-billion worth of shabu in Cavite.

In its recent resolution, the DOJ also indicted five others for drug importation: Chan Yee Wah, alias KC Chan, alias Fhonie Chan, alias Albert Chan, alias Chen Fong Hsiang; Zhou Quan, alias Zhang Quan, alias Zhauq Quan; Vedasto Baraquel, Jr.; Maria Lagrimas Catipan; and Emily Luquingan.

Meanwhile, the investigating panel recommended that the graft complaint against former Customs chief Isidro Lapeña, Fajardo, Acierto, Guban, and several others be endorsed to the Office of the Ombudsman for preliminary investigation.

The rest of the cases against dozens of other respondents were recommended dismissed for lack of probable cause, a decision that is subject to automatic review by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

The resolution was signed by Assistant State Prosecutors Mary Jane Sytat and Gino Paolo Santiago and Prosecution Attorneys Jayvee Laurence Bandong and Mary Grace Arboladura. It was approved by acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon. —LDF, GMA News