Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Barangay chief’s brother gets life term
THE brother of Pasil Barangay Captain Romeo Ocarol Sr. broke down after Regional Trial Court Judge Gabriel Ingles sentenced him to life imprisonment for selling 4.75 grams of illegal drugs.
Christopher “Riking” Ocarol hugged his son tightly, who started to cry when he saw the tears roll down his father’s cheek.
Also sentenced with Christopher was Luciano Rivas, who is said to be his partner in the illegal business.
Both were ordered to pay a fine of P500,000 each.
Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district), vice chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, welcomed the verdict.
Cuenco said he hopes this will serve as a lesson to those people engaged in the business.
“Hinaot nga (I hope) this will serve as a good warning to everybody he be a captain or an ordinary citizen that the law will always catch up with them. They can never escape the clutches of the law,” he said.
Despite his clients’ conviction, lawyer Leslie Salva insisted that the evidence against the two men was planted.
Barangay Captain Ocarol, for his part, was not happy with the case’s outcome, saying his brother had been following the right path.
Ingles, in his 27-pages decision, did not give credence to the testimony of Christopher, 38, and Rivas, 36, that a buy-bust never took place.
According to them, they were on their way to buy installation wires for Christopher’s car stereo when policemen arrested them, brought them to the South Reclamation Project and tried to extort P300,000 from them.
“However, what both accused have shown to this court is that since (PO1 Julius) Aniñon (the poseur-buyer) was not one of the officers who allegedly extorted money from accused Ocarol at the SRP or anywhere else, he could not have been aggrieved when the demand was refused. In short, the defense failed to show ill motive or base motive on the part of Aniñon as to falsely concoct or invent a story against them. Thus, the presumption that he was performing regularly his official function applies to him,” said Ingles.
Ingles noted that the accused filed an administrative case against Aniñon for allegedly lying that there was a buy-bust and that he acted as poseur-buyer.
But Ingles said: “This court precisely finds no evidence why officer Aniñon would lie considering that he was not part of the extortion operation, as the defense wants this court to believe. Nowhere in the testimony of both accused directly or impliedly indicating that officer Aniñon demanded money or anything from them in exchange for their release.”
The court also found significant a statement issued by the accused in their joint counter-affidavit. It said Christopher’s brother, who is the barangay captain of Pasil, Cebu City, had given the former an ultimatum—if he wanted to stay in Pasil and live with his family, he had to stop doing illegal business or else he should stay outside Cebu or Pasil in particular.
The court said there is even direct admission that Christopher and Rivas were engaged in something illegal because in they also said, “it is the most painful part in life when one has decided to change his life for the better that other people push him instead to commit another wrong especially if those who pushed him to do wrong are the very people who were supposed to protect us.”
Operatives of the Vice Control Section arrested the two men in May 2006 on Flores St., Pasil, and seized P20,000 worth of shabu from them.
Christopher was ranked no. 3 in the Cebu City police watch list of drug personalities.
He was considered a level 2 player; able to disposed of a minimum of 200 grams to two kilos of shabu a week. (KNT)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 31, 2007 issue)
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