Carpenter acquitted of drug pushing

CEBU, Philippines – Regional Trial Court Judge Macaundas Hadjirasul acquitted a man who was accused of pushing illegal drugs after the arresting officer failed to establish sufficient evidence to prove he committed the crime.

Jaime dela Peña was acquitted for the crime of Violation of Section 5, Article II of Republic Act 9165 otherwise known as Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act for lack of proof presented by the prosecution.

"There is no sufficient evidence that the sachet of shabu allegedly bought from the accused during the subject buy-bust operation was the very same sachet of shabu which was submitted for laboratory examination and later presented to this court as evidence," Hadjirasul said.

With this, Hadjirasul ordered the jail warden of the Cebu City Jail to release Dela Peña from detention.

On October 11, 2008 at around 3:50 p.m. in Barangay Sambag 1, Cebu City Dela Peña was arrested in a buy-bust operation conducted by the police when the poseur buyer gave signal to the back-up that he received one heat-sealed transparent plastic containing shabu weighing 0.04

However, during the arraignment of the accused, he pleaded not guilty to the crime.

To prove his guilt, the prosecution presented three witnesses.

One of the three witnesses, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 Officer Filemon Ruiz stated that on October 10, 2008, he received information that the accused was allegedly selling shabu at his residence.

He said on October 11, 2010 they conducted a buy-bust operation wherein the poseur-buyer approached the accused and bought shabu worth P500.

Minutes later when the accused handed the transparent plastic containing alleged shabu to the poseur buyer, he then introduced himself as PDEA agent and tried to hand-cuff the accused. But the accused resist by closing the gate of his house.

However, because of the back up agents who were there in the area, they were able to arrest dela Peña.

Ruiz said that they marked the confiscated transparent plastic containing shabu with the presence of the accused, media man and barangay councilman of Sta. Cruz, Cebu City at their office.

However, the accused denied the accusations of the agent in his testimony in court, saying he did not sell shabu to the arresting officers. He added that on October 11, 2008 in the afternoon there were two men who barged into his house, searched him then took him to the police station.

Meanwhile, Judge Hadjirasul said that the arresting officers should mark immediately the confiscated material after the seizure.

"Immediately after seizure or confiscation, the illegal drug shall be properly marked for identification," Hadjirasul said.

He added that the Supreme Court emphasized its crucial importance of the prosecution as reference to the requirement of immediately marking the confiscated illegal drug.

Hadjirasul said that the failure of the arresting officer to abide the rules of conducting operation led to the dismissal of the case. (FREEMAN)