A former Quezon town mayor and his driver were sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday by the Quezon City regional trial court after being found guilty of transporting 500 kilos of illegal drugs worth P1 billion in an ambulance almost six years ago.
Quezon City court branch 81 Judge Theresa Yadao also ordered former Panukulan, Quezon mayor Ronnie Mitra and his driver Javier Morilla to pay P10 million each as penalty for violating the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972.
The court, however, acquitted alleged accomplices Willie Yang and Ruel Dequilla for lack of sufficient evidence.
The court said the prosecution failed to prove the two Chinese nationals had participated in transporting the 500 kilos of shabu.
The four accused were cornered by combined police operatives and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at a road checkpoint in Real, Quezon in October 2001.
Mitra was leading a convoy of two vehicles, using a Kia Besta ambulance owned by the local government of Panukulan to transport the illegal drugs to be delivered to a certain Ben Tan in Manila.
Authorities seized the drugs contained in 32 sacks from the ambulance and Mitra’s Starex van.
The case was originally filed before the Infanta Regional Trial Court but the Supreme Court ordered the change of venue to Quezon City for security reasons.
NBI regional director Ruel Lasala commended the conviction of Mitra, proving that “money is not above the law because the court convicted a man who was a politician and had great power.”
Lasala said he was confident that Mitra would be convicted, citing the sizeable evidence seized from the former mayor.
After Mitra was caught, the drug problem in Quezon went down significantly, according to Lasala.
“There had been no major drug bust after his arrest,” he said.
– With Evelyn Macairan