Judge: Sale of drugs gets life; possession gets 14 years

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City judge has highlighted the difference between the sale and possession of less than a gram of illegal drugs after she separately convicted two men for charges of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

In an eight-page decision dated Dec. 11 and released to the media Thursday, Regional Trial Court Branch 79 Judge Nadine Jessica Corazon Fama found accused Eduardo Manaois guilty beyond reasonable doubt of selling 0.02 gram of shabu to a police officer in an operation in June 2, 2008.

The judge sentenced Manaois to a life imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine amounting to half a million pesos.

Meanwhile, Fama found accused Jonathan Sy guilty beyond reasonable doubt of possessing 0.01 recovered from him by police officers during an operation at a gym in Quezon City on June 9, 2004.

The judge, in her 12-page decision also dated Dec. 11 and released Thursday, sentenced Sy to “suffer the indeterminate penalty of imprisonment of 12 years and one day as minimum, to 14 days and one day as maximum.” He was also ordered to pay a fine amounting to P300,000.

The decision on the case against Sy noted that the court took into consideration the quantity of the shabu that was the subject matter of the case.

Fama said the prosecution panels in both cases were able to establish all elements of the offense – sale of illegal drugs for Manaois and possession for Sy.

In deciding the case against Manaois, the judge said that “courts generally view the defense of denial with disfavor due to the facility with which an accused can concoct it to suit his or her defense.”

During trial proceedings, Manaois denied selling illegal drugs and claimed that he was dragged from his house and brought by three men in civilian clothes to the police station without being frisked.

He said that the incident occurred during his birthday while they were preparing for his party with his children and other relatives, but failed to provide a birth certificate during cross examination. No other witnesses were presented by the defense.

But according to PO1 Armand Regato, the accused was arrested after the suspect gave the illegal drugs to him as he was the one who acted as the buyer.

He said the arrest happened before Manaois was able enter his house after running from police officers who tried to arrest him for selling illegal drugs.

In the case of Sy, Fama said the defense failed to present corroborative evidence that would prove the accused’s claim that the police framed him because they wanted to extort money from him.

Sy denied the allegations that the illegal drugs and the paraphernalia were recovered from him. He said the police talked to his father and asked for P50,000 in exchange for his liberty.

However, the judge cited an earlier Supreme Court ruling, which noted that “if charges against the accused were simply trumped up, it remains a question why no administrative cases were brought against the police officers.”

“From all the foregoing, the prosecution was able to establish beyond reasonable doubt that accused is guilty of crime which he is charged,” ruled Fama.