RTC clears man of drug charges

The Regional Trial Court recently acquitted a man of the charges of possession and selling of shabu because the prosecution failed to show proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

In a nine-page decision, Judge Gabriel Ingles said the arresting officers had testified they did not see for themselves that the accused Joel Nacario actually handed the shabu to the poseur buyer during a buy-bust operation at the back of the Tabunok Public Market on November 5, 2003.

SPO4 Reynaldo Vitualia, who led four other policemen of the Talisay City Police, said his team was posted at a distance while its poseur buyer was sent to deal with Nacario. He admitted they saw the poseur buyer hand to Nacario the marked money but did not see the latter actually give the shabu.

Vitualia also admitted that they arrested Nacario by relying only on the pre-arranged signal from the poseur buyer, who was a police character before that became a police asset later on.

The poseur buyer then turned over three packets of shabu to the team but it was not established whether the items actually came from Nacario himself. The marked money was found in the hands of Nacario but it was not proof that an actual exchange of shabu took place, said Ingles.

Vitualia had testified also that his team had conducted surveillance on Nacario and coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency before the buy-bust.

Nacario denied the charges, complete with testimonies of his grandmother and a neighbor attesting to his being a good man without vices.

After several hearings through over a yearlong period, Ingles ruled that there was no concrete proof that Nacario was guilty of the charges because "no prosecution witness saw the accused deliver to the poseur buyer the illegal drug."

Ingles then cleared Nacario of the charges and ordered him released from detention.