HEALTH Secretary Paulyn Ubial can be charged in court in connection with alleged smuggling of more than 5,000 pieces of marine turtle or pawikan eggs from the Turtle Islands by a medical team from the Department of Health (DoH), according to a cause-oriented group.

Lawyer Restituto Mendoza of the group Action for Good Governance raised the alarm on Thursday in reaction to a recent report that Ubial tried to intervene for and in behalf of Dr. Sangkula Laja and his team from the Tawi-Tawi provincial health office after they were caught in possession of the marine turtle eggs.