CA affirms drug pusher conviction

CEBU, Philippines - The Court of Appeals Cebu station has affirmed the conviction of a suspected drug pusher in Mandaue City who was sentenced by the Regional Trial Court to suffer life imprisonment.

Associate Justice Gabriel Ingles found no reversible error committed by the trial court in convicting Ernesto Buaron Jr. for violation of Section 5, Article II of republic Act 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

“We affirm accused-appellant’s conviction. Accused-appellant first posits that he was not committing a crime when he was arrested and that he was merely trying to collect payment from the police officers for the beer they consumed in the videoke bar. As such, he asserts that his warrantless arrest was illegal which makes any evidence confiscated from him as fruit of a poisonous tree. We reject accused-appellant’s assertion,” the decision read.

The RTC in Mandaue City sentenced Buaron to suffer life imprisonment and was ordered to pay a fine of P300,000.

Buaron appealed the decision claiming that the prosecution failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. But the appellate court ruled otherwise.

In the contrary, the appellate court said the prosecution has established that Buaron was caught in the act of selling shabu inside a videoke bar owned by his mother in Barangay Looc, Mandaue City.

The court said that the testimonies of the police officers were more credible compared to the claim of the accused because policemen were presumed to have acted regularly in the performance of their official functions.

The members of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Mandaue City Police Office claimed to have received information on November 9, 2003 about the illegal activities of Buaron.

A surveillance operation was immediately conducted resulting in the buy-bust operation and the eventual arrest of the accused.—(FREEMAN)