P6.4-B 'shabu' shipment: Drug case vs Taguba, Richard Tan junked

MANILA - A Valenzuela court has dismissed the drug case against fixer Mark Taguba, Chinese businessmen Richard Tan and 7 others in connection with the shipment of P6.4 billion "shabu" from China that slipped past Customs inspection in May 2017.

The Regional Trial Court Branch 284 granted the motion of Taguba, Tan and another co-respondent to dismiss the transportation and delivery of illegal drugs case over prosecutors' alleged forum shopping.

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Forum shopping is the practice of lodging multiple cases against the same party in the hopes that one of the proceedings would result in a favorable decision.

The respondents noted that the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court Branch 180 in November 2017 dismissed the drug importation charges against them for lack of jurisdiction.

The Department of Justice then filed the same case before the Manila RTC and lodged another case of transportation and delivery of illegal drugs at the Valenzuela RTC Branch 284.

The filing of multiple cases "clearly bears the hallmarks of forum shopping, betraying the prosecutors' intent to secure favorable judgement from different courts," the Valenzuela court said in a decision dated April 23.

Faeldon allegedly facilitated the shipment of illicit drugs and named Customs officials who supposedly accepted bribes.

• Fixer Taguba claims paying Customs P92M in bribes

Chen, meanwhile, is the owner of the warehouse in Valenzuela City where over 600 kilos of illegal drugs were found.

With a report from Joyce Balancio, ABS-CBN News