Woman enters plea bargain, gets 5 yrs

A 41-year-old woman entered into a plea bargain for the charge of carrying unlicensed handguns when arrested four months ago, prompting the court to convict her to only five years in jail. Mercedes Durano, a resident of Danao City, confessed that policemen arrested her at the south bus terminal, last March 11, for possession of three Danao-made .45-caliber pistols, which she was about to deliver to prospective buyers in a southern town of Cebu.

Durano told Regional Trial Court Judge Generosa Labra that she will enter into a plea bargain by pleading guilty to the crime. The prosecution did not oppose.

A plea bargain is an agreement between the prosecutor and the accused in which the accused pleads guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence or a reduced charge.

Operatives of the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response, led by their deputy chief Bienvenido Premne, arrested Durano after an earlier surveillance. The unlicensed guns were inside her denim pouch when she was caught.