Father and son get 10 years for shabu possession

Believing that the prosecution has proven the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the court sentenced a father and his son to 10 years in jail for possession of shabu.

Ramon Caja and his son Rico were charged with possession of the substance after the National Bureau of Investigation found a plastic bag containing 83.4862 grams of shabu in a raid that the bureau conducted following surveillance operations.

In his decision, Judge Soliver Peras said the prosecution had proved the identity of both father and son as the same persons who were subject of the NBI surveillance and test-buy, and who used the house in sitio Manga, barangay Tisa as their base of illegal activities.

Peras said that based on prosecution evidence, there is no doubt that the house raided by the NBI was that of the two accused.

NBI agent Arnel Pura had said that they have conducted surveillance operations on the two accused and it was only after confirmation that they conducted the test buy and raid. The designated poseur buyer successfully bought shabu from Rico while, during the raid, Pura himself found another plastic packet of shabu inside a drawer in one of the bedrooms in the house.

Peras said that while Rico''s claim that he lives in Mojon, barangay Tisa is true, the same does not prevent him from going to sitio Manga considering his admission that it would only take 10 to 15 minutes for a person to travel to the sitio by tricycle.

Meanwhile, Peras said that Ramon''s denial that he lives in another house is no less contradicted by the defense witness who said that Ramon actually lives in sitio Manga. The same witness is a neighbor of the accused.

"As it is, denials of an accused cannot be accorded greater evidentiary weight than the positive declarations of credible witnesses who testified on affirmative matters," Peras said.

The court junked both accused'' denial that nobody lives in the house raided by the NBI considering the presence of a television set as well as observation and communication equipment, something that the court found overwhelming considering the financial status of both accused.

Rico claimed to be a mere tricycle driver while his father is jobless.

"What a piece of equipment owned by these two persons, claiming to be a trisikad driver while the other is jobless...certainly, even an employed person receiving a meager salary could not afford the expensive equipment," Peras said. -Joeberth M. Ocao/QSB