Drug pusher gets life imprisonment

Regional Trial Court Judge Gabriel Ingles yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment a drug pusher operating in the Carbon Market after he was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt for selling a pack of shabu in 2005.

Wilfredo Arias, 20, was also ordered by the court to pay a fine of P500,000 for violating Section 5, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.  The accused, however, said he cannot pay the amount.

Arias was arrested by the elements of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Cebu City Police Office after he sold them a heat-sealed pack of shabu on the evening of December 29, 2005.

The accused claimed that the incriminating evidence against him was only planted by his arresting officers, but Ingles rejected his defense because he failed to support his allegations with proof.

“Unsubstantiated by clear and convincing evidence, these defenses are negative and self-serving, and deserve no weight in law and cannot prevail over the testimonies of the credible prosecution witnesses,” the court ruled.

Meanwhile, a man was acquitted of drug charges by the court yesterday because the prosecution failed to establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The police claimed they arrested Joel Turko Datuel, after suspecting he was involved in a robbery and they found a hand-rolled marijuana cigarette on him when they frisked him.

But Datuel, 24, a resident of barangay Lorega-San Miguel, strongly denied that the policemen recovered the marijuana from him.

Ingles also observed conflicting statements of the arresting officers.

The court found out that Datuel was arrested by the police even if he did not commit a crime that justified a body search without a search warrant.  This means that anything found, even if it is illegal, cannot be used as evidence against him.  - Rene U. Borromeo/BRP