Cop gets life, P10-M fine for protecting shabu lab in La Union

MANILA, Philippines – A court in La Union found Senior Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo guilty of protecting a huge shabu laboratory in a remote area in Naguilian town. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and was ordered to pay a fine of P10 million. 

The ruling was issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 67 Judge Ferdinand Fe in San Fernando City, La Union.

Borromeo’s assistant, PO3 Joey Tabang, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and was also ordered to pay a P500,000 fine.  

They have 15 days to appeal their cases before the Court of Appeals.

The shabu lab in La Union was discovered in 2008. It made the headlines for being reportedly one of the biggest shabu laboratories in the country. 

The lab was located at Barangay Bimmotobot in Naguilian. It yielded P27-million worth of raw chemicals and equipment that could have produced hundreds of million pesos worth of illegal drugs if the raw product ephedrine was present.

Borromeo used to be the director of the Ilocos Regional Mobile Group. He was arrested in 2009 but he was allowed to post bail in January 2011. He has since been reinstated. He is currently with the Cavite Police Provincial Office. 

Borromeo was earlier tagged by the shabu lab caretaker, Dante Palaganas. Borromeo denied the charges but he and 52 of his men were relieved of their posts.

Palaganas also testified that he killed a certian “Ronnie” upon the orders of  Borromeo and Joselito Artuz (alias George Cordero), the suspected financier of the drug laboratory. – Rappler.com