Man gets 12 years in jail for drugs

A man was sentenced by the Regional Trial Court to 12 years in prison for possession of shabu.

In his decision, judge Gabriel Ingles said that there was more than enough evidence to convince the court that Alfred Daclis was arrested during a hot pursuit operation and was subsequently found to be in possession of shabu after being frisked.

The prosecution's case was bordered on Daclis' being placed under police custody without a warrant as an incident of a proper warrantless arrest. Daclis was one of two men arrested for robbing a jeepney morning on November 10, 2005.

SPO3 Raul Magdadaro testified in court that they received the robbery alarm from the jeepney's conductor and he and three other policemen got on another jeepney headed toward the scene. There, bystanders informed them that the suspects already fled on board another jeepney.

Magdadaro said they immediately coordinated with the Traffic Division Group who then pursued the suspects and eventually accosted them along M.J. Cuenco Avenue. The conductor of the first jeepney positively identified Daclis and his companion Garly Secretaria as the men who robbed them.

While Daclis admitted that he was picked up by authorities, denied that he was in possession of the shabu.

But Ingles said that aside from merely denying the accusation against him, Daclis failed to present any evidence to establish that the police officers who testified against him were improperly motivated, thus, also failed to rebut the presumption of regularity in favor of the police officers in the performance of their official functions.

"Between the uncorroborated and mere denial of the accused, this court gives more probative value to affirmative and corroborated testimonies of the arresting officers," Ingles said. - Joeberth M. Ocao/BRP