Ex-Ozamiz vice mayor Parojinog gets life for drugs Former

MANILA, Philippines — Ozamiz City vice mayor Nova Princess Parojinog has been sentenced to life in prison after she was found guilty of of illegal drug possession.

“There is no doubt in the mind of the court that the prosecution has proven beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of illegal possession of 677.6796 grams of shabu,” Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 228 Judge Mitushealla Manzanero-Casiño said in her ruling.

The court ordered Parojinog to pay a fine of P500,000. It directed the warden of the Taguig City Jail female dormitory to turn her over to the Correctional Institute for Women.

Casiño dismissed the argument of Parojinog that an advance police security team had entered her house before it served a search warrant.

“She cannot claim that she was arrested solely because she was handcuffed minutes before the searching team arrived at her house,” the court ruling read.

Parojinog was transferred from the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame to the Taguig city jail in August 2021.

She was arrested in Barangay San Roque in Ozamiz City on July 30, 2017 during a raid on their residence that left her father, former mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr., mother Susan, brother Octavio, sister Mona and 12 other people dead.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte had linked the entire Parojinog clan to the illegal drug trade and other organized criminal activities.