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Thursday, March 04, 2004
PDEA pursues case vs. owner of 132g. shabu
By Oscar C. Pineda
THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has asked the Regional State Prosecutor to reconsider its resolution dismissing the drug case against a man caught with 132.74 grams of shabu during a raid in Consolacion, Cebu last year.
Consolacion police filed a case against Jose Garcia.
After the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) recommended the filing of the case against him, Garcia filed a motion for reinvestigation at the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
The police and MTCC reportedly were unaware of Garcia’s motion.
Garcia got a favorable decision after the state prosecutor supported the provincial prosecutor’s findings that the raid was conducted without Garcia’s presence.
Denial
But in his motion for reconsideration filed last Feb. 11, 2004 with the regional state prosecutor, PDEA Regional Director Gaudencio Pagaling denied Garcia’s claim.
He even submitted a picture showing the respondent inside the house during the raid.
Pagaling also questioned the provincial prosecutor’s sincerity in conducting a review without informing the police and MTCC.
He said the dismissal demoralized the Consolacion police, saying, “Where is now the fight against illegal drugs?”
The state prosecutor is yet to act on the motion filed by PDEA.
Consolacion police raided Garcia’s house on Oct. 6, 2003 and seized enough shabu to qualify the case as heinous and non-bailable.
Investigation
Police filed charges against Garcia after MTCC Judge Jocelyn G. Uy-Po conducted a preliminary investigation and recommended the filing of a case against him on Nov. 11, 2003.
On Nov. 27, 2003, prosecution lawyer Jasmin Despi, conformed to Uy-Po’s decision and recommended the filing of a case.
Garcia filed a motion for a reinvestigation or reevaluation of the case with the provincial prosecutors office. Arresting officers said they were not informed of the motion so they failed to attend the proceedings.
So after conducting reinvestigation, provincial prosecution lawyer Jay Paradiang recommended last Jan. 5 the dismissal of Garcia’s case. State prosecutor’s office officer-in-charge Rey Delgado affirmed Paradiang’s decision last Jan. 20.
He said two of Garcia’s witnesses claimed that the police’s witnesses went in only after the police entered Garcia’s house.
“And therefore, the policemen had already ample time to plant shabu,” Paradiang said in his resolution.
Witnesses
Garcia’s witnesses were Ramy Edwilyn Yongco, 10, and Mitcheram Paller. The two police witnesses were Casili Barangay Captain Analee Fernandez and barangay tanod Ricardo Valle.
But Consolacion Police Chief Fermin Armendarez III maintained in an interview yesterday that Fernandez and Valle saw the recovery of the drugs in Garcia’s house.
Paradiang also cited the policemen’s move to prevent Garcia from witnessing the search in his house. He cited Supreme Court rulings –k People vs. Gesmundom People vs. del Rosario, and Quintero vs. the National Bureau of Investigation – to support his decision.
But Pagaling denied this, since even Garcia himself admitted in his counter-affidavit that he was inside his house during the raid.
Pagaling, in his motion, said the reinvestigation of the case was conducted without the police and the MTCC.
Pagaling said this “creates doubt as to the sincerity and credibility of the Provincial Prosecution Office.”
He also said that Garcia’s two witnesses were not presented during the preliminary investigation at the MTCC.
Pagaling finds it “blatantly questionable” for the provincial prosecutors office to reverse the findings of two judges, RTC Judge Marilyn Lagura-Yap and MTCC Judge Uy-Po.
Lagura-Yap issued the search warrant on Garcia’s house and MTCC Judge Uy-Po recommended the filing of charges against Garcia.
(March 4, 2004 issue)
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