Woman gets 2 years for keeping shabu

A court yesterday sentenced a 35-year-old woman to two years and four months imprisonment for keeping a few packs of shabu in her house during a police raid over four years ago.

Regional Trial Court judge Fortunato De Gracia found Rosalinda "Lina" Superales, of sitio Mahayahay, A. Lopez Street, barangay Calamba guilty beyond reasonable doubt for keeping shabu when police found four plastic packets of the illegal drug during a search at her house on May 3, 2002.

The policemen raided the house of Superales, a mother of five, by virtue of a search warrant issued by Judge Meinrado Paredes.

Before the house was searched, the policemen reportedly conducted a test-buy and confirmed that Superales was engaged in selling shabu, prompting them to apply for a search warrant from the court.

The illegal drug was found under the table near the exit door of the kitchen.

Superales, whose husband had left her and their children, managed to post bail for her temporary liberty while the case against her was pending in court.

During the trial, Superales denied owning the seized shabu, claiming she was at her neighbor's house when the policemen arrived and forcibly entered her house. - Rene U. Borromeo