Court acquits 2 of 3 'Alabang Boys' in drug case

(Updated 6:48 p.m.) A regional trial court on Friday acquitted two of the three accused in a high-profile drug case in 2008. Richard Brodett and Jorge Joseph of the so-called Alabang Boys were acquitted by the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 presided by Judge Juanita T. Guerrero, reported Jun Veneracion on GMA News TV's "News to Go." Brodett and Joseph were earlier charged for supposedly possessing and peddling high-end illegal drugs. The case against the third accused — Joseph Tecson — is still being tried by a Quezon City court. The judge issued the acquittal after finding that the "link in the custody of the drug evidence was broken." Guerrero noted that PDEA [Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency] forensic chemist Rona Mae Aguillon, in her testimony, claimed she examined the seized drugs for 16 hours, starting at 12:15 p.m. of Sept. 20, 2008 and ended at around 4 a.m. the following day. However, a photograph published in the Philippine Star on September 21 of the same year showed then-PDEA director Dionisio Santiago presenting the seized drugs to the media the day before. The judge said Aguillon's statement and the photgraph left her in a "quandary" as to who between Aguillon and Santiago was really in possession of the drugs on September 20. "Was it before the inventory taking or after Aguillon had taken custody of said items?" she said in her ruling. Saddened In a statement issued Friday afternoon, PDEA director general Jose Gutierrez Jr. said that while they respect the decision, they are likewise saddened by it. Gutierrez said he has instructed the legal service of the PDEA to review the transcript of the decision for future reference of the agency. Tecson, Brodett and Joseph were arrested by PDEA agents in separate buy-bust and follow up operations in September 2008. Their drug case became controversial after the PDEA in December 2008 accused Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors of receiving bribe for recommending the dismissal of the case. The prosecutors concerned had repeatedly denied taking bribes. On March 20, 2009, then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo overturned a DOJ resolution recommending the junking of the case and said the three affluent suspects should be charged in court. — with Mark Merueñas/LBG/RSJ, GMA News