Court metes man 20 years in jail for shabu

CEBU - The Regional Trial Court sentenced a man to 20 years in jail after policemen found seven packets of shabu amounting to 7.5 grams in his house three years ago.

RTC Branch 17 Judge Silvestre Maamo found Jerry Villamor guilty of violating Section 11 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. Aside from imprisonment, Maamo also ordered Villamor to pay P400,000.

Villamor denied the allegations, saying the members of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch did not find anything in his house in barangay Luz when they implemented the warrant against him on August 13, 2005. He also said that it might have been another man with a similar name that the police were looking for that day.

Maamo was the one who issued the search warrant the CIDG served to Villamor.

The policemen, however, positively identified Villamor as the subject of the warrant in testimonies that were given “in straightforward and coherent manner even despite cross-examination.”

It was PO2 Dennis Labra who found the packets of shabu inside the drawer of a cabinet at Villamor’s house.

Maamo said that denial, like alibi, has been viewed by the court with disfavor for it can easily be easily concocted and is a common standard ploy in most prosecutions especially in drug cases.

He said that when prohibited drugs are found in the house belonging to the person who is the subject of the search warrant, the presumption arises that such person is in possession of said drugs, which is in violation of the law. — Jasmin R. Uy/JMO (THE FREEMAN)