Man gets 15 years in jail for marijuana possession

A man was sentenced to 15 years in jail after found guilty of possessing two sticks of marijuana.

Policemen arrested Emilio Lapay Jr. on September 18, 2003 when they found two hand-rolled marijuana sticks in his possession.

The police at that time were responding to an alarm on a video karera operation in Buhisan road, sitio Guadalupe, barangay Punta Princesa, Cebu City when they chanced upon the suspicious-looking Lapay.

Lapay, when arraigned, pleaded not guilty saying he was detained for no reason after the police subjected him to a frisk. Lapay said the cops recovered nothing from him. The accused also cried foul over the search without a warrant of arrest.

However, Regional Trial Court branch 58 presiding judge Gabriel Ingles found "more credibility to the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses/arresting officers SPO3 Joselito Palang, SPO3 Rogelio Ruiz and PO2 Jerome Java."

Ingles, in his decision, cited that police, with their experience, "can easily detect whether what is being held is a stick of cigarette or marijuana by the way it appears."

The decision further stated that the arrest of Lapay needed no warrant of arrest as "he was committing a crime in the presence of the arresting police officers."

For being "guilty beyond reasonable doubt," Lapay was sentenced to spend 12 years and one day to 15 years in prison, and to pay the fine of P300,000. - Liv G. Campo