Man gets 15 years in jail for shabu

Finding the defense of the accused lame and finding the warrantless arrest valid, the Regional Trial Court sentenced a man to 15 years in prison for possession of shabu.

Judge Gabriel Ingles rejected the allegations of Richard Rama who said that his arrest was illegal and that the policemen who arrested him reportedly extorted money from him.

He alleged that prior to his arrest, one of the arresting officers demanded P15,000 from him.

But Ingles said that while there are indeed police officers who extort from suspected criminals, it is reportedly not easy to believe that the same scenario happened in the case because Rama''s allegations were uncorroborated.

"It is but natural that he being the party most interested in his acquittal can easily invent or concoct such defense," Ingles said.

Rama''s arrest was an offshoot of a snatching report wherein he was allegedly the suspect. When the police responded to the alarm and subsequently saw Rama, the latter allegedly ran and tried to escape.

In his decision, Ingles said that while the court agrees with Rama that the arrest could not be considered a hot pursuit arrest, considering the lapse of time between the robbery incident, the testimony of a police officer that he saw something bulging from Rama''s waistline and the fact that Rama ran away upon seeing authorities "constitute probable cause for the law enforcement officers to believe that the accused was committing an offense."

"Regarding the validity of the warrantless arrest of the accused, this court agrees with the defense that it cannot be considered as a hot pursuit arrest considering the lapse of time between the commission of the robbery/snatching and the arrest. However, the testimony of a certain Officer Rosales who claimed he saw something bulging from the waistline of the accused and the fact that the accused ran away when he saw them are enough to constitute the requisite probable cause for the law enforcement officers to believe that the accused was committing an offense," Ingles said. - Joeberth M. Ocao/MEEV