By Erma Edera

One of the two Chinese citizens who were shot on Taft Avenue on Saturday, would have been involved in the operation of a clandestine shabu laboratory in Manila in 2016.

A man was shot in front of the Araullo High School along UN Avenue. One victim was rushed to the medical center of Manila. (Photo by Erma Edera / MANILA BULLETIN)

Yan Yi Shou aka Randy, 35, male, single and resident of Binondo, Manila, one of the fatalities in the shooting, was a supposed cohort of intelligence officer Marine Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Marcelino in the P380 million drug case in 2016, police said .

Yan and Marcelino were arrested on January 21, 2016 during a buy-bust operation in Manila under the leadership of a composite team led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

The accused later claimed that they were only conducting a surveillance operation at a "possibly abandoned shabu facility" at Mahogany Street, Caeldon Residences, Felix Huertas St., Sta. Cruz, Manila.

In that operation a total of 77 kilos of suspected shabu was taken.

However, the Ministry of Justice (DOJ) has withdrawn its P380 million drug case against them for "inadequacy of evidence," but the Philippine national police and the PDEA have appealed, resolved in their favor by assistant public prosecutor Alexander Suarez. and Senior deputy prosecutor Richard Fadullon last September 15th.

As a result, a case for violation of section 11 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act (Republic Act 9165) was filed with the court of Manila.

In May 2017, the court of Manila ordered the release from the custody of Marcelino and Yan after they were acquitted by the Ministry of Justice (DOJ) of involvement in illegal drugs.

In the resolution, the DOJ stated that Marcelino and Yan proved sufficiently that they were legally at work when they were seen by the PDEA and PNP, and thus disputed the evidence "allegedly determined that they are likely to be involved in the manufacture of illicit drugs , conspiracy in the manufacture thereof or illegal possession thereof. "

Meanwhile, on August 14, Yan and Wu Huai Hong, 30, male, single, residing in a hotel in Sta. Cruz, Manila was arrested after allegedly attacking two officers from the Manila Police District (MPD) in Sta. Cruz, Manila, MPD General Assignment and Investigation Section (GAIS) said.

According to the police, the Chinese made a scene at T. Alonzo corner Ongpin Street. PO1 Eduardo Tila and PO1 Fernando Nakigo of the Meisic police station (PS-11) tried to reassure the suspects, but were instead beaten by the two.

Four days after the incident, the two were shot by unknown men riding a motorcycle along Taft Avenue at the corner of the United Nations Avenue in Manila in broad daylight, Saturday.

Wu died on the spot and was shot to death on the right side of his face, while Yan was taken to the nearby Manila Medical Center, but was declared dead on arrival with a gunshot wound in his head.