A JUST DECISION

Drug offenders get 20-year jail term Manila Standard25 July 2007 2:30 AM
Four drug users were meted out 20 years imprisonment for engaging in a pot session three years ago in Pasig City.
In a three-page decision, Judge Abraham Borreta, of Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 154, also ordered the accused Erwin Castumbas, Roldan Cruz, Erwin Begonio, and Elpidio Turlao to pay P400,000 each as penalty for their offenses.
The promulgation of the sentences was made in absentia since the four jumped bail while their case was being heard.
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“In the light of the evidence adduced by the prosecution which was not controverted, disputed or refuted by the accused in view of their failure to appear at the hearings of the instant case despite notice to them, the court has to hand down a verdict of conviction,” Borreta said.
Court records showed, the four accused were arrested on Feb. 13, 2004 after operatives of the Pasig police received information that a group of men were having a pot session at the corner of Baltazar and Villa Monic Streets, Barangay Palatiw.
Investigation showed Castumbas, Cruz, Begonio and Turlao were caught in the act of sniffing marijuana.
During trial, the four failed to present any evidence in their defense to charges of using prohibited substances.
The prosecution presented as witnesses the policemen who staged the bust leading to the arrest of the suspects.
Last June 28, a shootout occurred during a raid of the Mapayapa compound, the site of the so-called “shabu supermarket” near city hall that was raided on Feb. 10 last year.
“Some syndicates want to revive the drug trade. It was good that some residents were vigilant,” said Chief Supt. Luizon Ticson, Eastern Police District director.
The place has been identified with suspected drug lord Amim Imam Boratong who, along with his mistress Sheryl Morela, were arrested in Makati City November last year and are now detained by the National Bureau of Investigation.
Long perceived as untouchable, the compound, located near a police precinct, was first raided in early 2006 by operatives of Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force based in Camp Crame, following reports that Boratong had earned more than P900 million in the drug trade since 2003.
Boratong and Morela face drug trafficking charges in the sala of Borreta. Gigi Muñoz David Back to top