Sunday, November 04, 2007 3 men get jail terms for illegal drug raps
THREE men were meted a 12- to 15-year jail term for possession of illegal drugs.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Gabriel Ingles also ordered Ali Raganas, Edgar Devivar and Jose Solon to pay a fine of P300,000 each.
Raganas was arrested sometime in 2005 during the implementation of a search warrant against him. A total of 4.97 grams of shabu was recovered from his possession.
Raganas denied the charge.
But Ingles said the court was unaware “that (Raganas) is seriously ill, as it is manifested during the times that he appeared in court,” read Ingles’ decision.
Admission
Devivar, for his part, was arrested last year. He was caught in possession of .30 grams of shabu.
He admitted that the police officers found him with a plastic containing shabu.
But he defended himself by saying that he only picked up the sachet and threw it away after seeing that it contained illegal drugs.
But Ingles ruled that such statement confirmed the testimonies of the police officers who said that Devivar was in possession of shabu then threw it away.
“(Devivar) wants this court to believe that he really had no intention of possessing the pack of shabu as it was out of curiosity that he picked it up, but this court is not convinced,” said Ingles.
The court also did not give credence to the denial of Solon who was arrested sometime in 2005.
The court noted the inconsistencies in the testimonies of defense witnesses, which made Ingles doubt their testimonies. (KNT)
