Duljo resident cleared of drug raps

CEBU, Philippines - The Regional Trial Court has acquitted a man from possession of shabu charges for lack of evidence and for lack of testimonies to prove his guilt.

Alfie Java of sitio Plastican, barangay Duljo-Fatima, this city was arrested by PO2 Ramon Bolongaita and PO3 Celso Sarona after he was allegedly found in possession of 0.04 grams of shabu last April 12, 2007.

Bolongaita testified in court that while they were conducting their preventive patrol in Duljo-Fatima, they met a man in a corner holding something that looked like a plastic pack believed to have contained shabu.

He said that it was then that they ordered for his arrest. Java reportedly resisted at first.

Bolongaita, however, said that they were not able to arrest the person who sold the shabu.

But because Sarona made a conflicting testimony in court that he never did see Java at that time, contrary to what Bolongaita testified that they saw a man in a corner of a building, the court finds the alleged actuation of the police officer as contrary to ordinary human experience.

“A person who is in possession of an illegal object when surprised by the presence of police officers would ordinarily or instinctively try to hide or even throw it away,” RTC Branch 58 Judge Gabriel Ingles said.

Ingles found the said testimony “not enough to establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.”

Ingles also said that the court finds the procedural mistake committed by the arresting officers in asking the accused where he got the shabu after the arrest without the assistance of a counsel or even reciting to the latter the Miranda doctrine. — Jasmin R. Uy/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)