MANILA – The La Union Regional Trial Court (RTC) will hear next week the motion for reconsideration (MR) filed by state lawyers on the dismissal of illegal drug charges against Julian Ongpin.
In a message to reporters on Friday, Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento said the MR was filed Thursday and has been set for hearing on December 3.
"If allowed by the court, the panel (of prosecutors) will present evidence in support of the motion for reconsideration," Malcontento said of the case involving the 29-year-old son of a billionaire and former government official.
In an order dated November 15, Judge Romeo Agacita Jr. of the City of San Fernando RTC Branch 27 dismissed the criminal case for lack of probable cause to issue a warrant of arrest against Ongpin, who was caught with 12.685 grams of cocaine at a hostel room on September 18.
Agacita noted lapses in the cops’ handling of evidence as the sachets of cocaine were not marked at once.
"It could not, therefore, be determined how the unmarked drugs were handled upon confiscation. Evidently, the alteration of the seized items was a possibility absent their immediate marking thereof," the decision read.
The precautionary hold departure order against Ongpin was subsequently ordered lifted.
The drugs were recovered from a hotel room he shared with the late artist and alleged girlfriend, Bree Jonson, at the Flotsam Jetsam Hostel in Barangay Urbiztondo, San Juan town.
Jonson, 30, was found unconscious and later declared dead in a hospital, with autopsy report declaring asphyxia as cause of death and adding she was positive for cocaine use. (PNA)
