Three years after she was arrested by the operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for selling 32 grams of shabu to a poseur-buyer, a 29-year-old woman from barangay Labangon was sentenced to life imprisonment by the court yesterday.
Regional Trial Court Branch 58 Judge Gabriel Ingles ruled that Jenevieve “Bebang” Juezan has been found guilty beyond reasonable doubt for violating Section 5, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
Aside from the jail penalty, the court also ordered Juezan to pay P500,000 fine to the government for violating such provision of Republic Act 9165.
Juezan’s co-accused named Joshua Famador was acquitted and was ordered released from detention due to the failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The PDEA agents had claimed that Juezan and Famador were “arrested while both were conniving in selling a big pack of shabu” to P02 George Cansancio who acted as the poseur buyer on September 12, 2005.
Famador was alleged to have been the one seen driving the motorcycle boarded by Juezan when both of them met with PDEA agents at corners Katipunan and A. Lopez Streets and that it was him who allegedly handed over to Juezan the brown envelope containing the regulated drugs.
But Judge Ingles ruled that the pieces of evidence presented by the prosecution did not clearly indicate his participation in the illegal drug activities of Juezan because it was the latter and P02 Cansancio who negotiated for the sale of shabu.
Famador claimed he was the one who fixed the electrical connections of Juezan’s motorcycle that is why he was the one seen conducting a road test of the said vehicle that time. He said Juezan was about to buy some medicine at a pharmacy in that place.
Juezan tried but failed to discredit the testimonies of her arresting officers by accusing them of trying to extort P200,000 from her in exchange for her release. — Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV