3 convicted for peddling marijuana

A former accounting scholar, claiming to be a member of a militant labor group, has been sentenced, with two others, to as much as 40 years in prison by a Manila court after junking their alibi of conspiracy and deceit, for possessing more than 32 kilos of marijuana.

Nelida Dequina, a mother of two, along with her two Iloilo City fish vendor friends – Joselito Jundoc and Nora Jingabo, were each sentenced to reclusion perpetua and ordered to pay a half-million peso fine each.

The three were nabbed on the morning of Sept. 29, 1999 in Tondo, Manila by the Western Police District (WPD) after police received a tip on the shipment of the large amount of marijuana leaves. The police recovered 11 marijuana bricks contained in three large traveling bags.

The accused later confessed that the illegal substance came from Mabalacat, Pampanga and was to be delivered to Iloilo through a ship docked in Manila.

In convicting the three, Judge Teresa Soriano of Manila regional trial court branch 27 said the points raised by the defense, including the place of arrest and not being immediately given the procedural medical check up, "were minor inconsistencies that would not cause the court to strike down the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses."

Among the prosecution witnesses were the arresting members of the WPD Mobile Patrol Support Unit, PO3 Wilfredo Masanggue and SPO1 Anthony Blanco, who explained the circumstances that led to the arrest.

The policemen testified that their superior officer, Chief Inspector Romulo Sapitula, had instructed them to be on the lookout at the corner of Juan Luna and Raxabago streets for two women and a man aboard a taxi bound for the piers. The operatives waited until they spotted the suspects matching the description and immediately tailed them.

The lawmen said the suspects’ taxi later stopped and from it emerged the suspects toting the three heavy bags. The policemen apprehend the three when they began walking briskly resulting in the bag carried by Dequina be dropped on the pavement, revealing its marijuana contents.

Dequina, and her companions, for their part insisted that they were already in the vicinity of the piers when police blocked their path and opened their bags in the taxi’s luggage compartment. The three also accused Sapitula of slapping Dequina during the ensuing interrogation.

Dequina also presented an elaborate story about being merely asked by a friend named Sally Penaredondo back in Iloilo to fetch the bags in Pampanga and deliver them to the Visayan province by ship. Dequina said Penaredondo is a member of the labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno who also recruited her to the group.

Dequina, who also claims to be an orphan but was a consistent scholar from elementary up to her accountancy course in college, said Penaredondo told her that her Manila-Pampanga-Manila odyssey would be her test to determine her loyalty to the labor group. The woman added that Penaredondo threatened to harm her child when she hesitated.

But the court found Dequino’s story unbelievable and said that "in the absence of ill motive, the testimony of the police officers are given full faith and credit." Judge Soriaso also said that Dequino failed to sufficiently prove that she was acting under compulsion in her claim to innocence.

The court said Dequina, Jundoc, and Jingabo‘s "concerted actions indubitably (establish) conspiracy in the case."