Life term for drug dealer

A judge sentenced a drug pusher to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of peddling almost a kilo of shabu inside a hotel last year in Pasay City.

Judge Eleuterio Guerrero, of Branch 116 of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court, also ordered the accused Eduardo Vergara to pay a fine of P500,000 and the seized 997.80 grams of shabu to be turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for proper disposition.

"The facts proven in this case are inculpatory against the accused and the evidence adduced by the people against the accused had sufficiently established the latter’s guilt for the offense charged against him in this case beyond moral certainty," Guerrero said in the 17-page decision.

Court records showed Vergara was apprehended during a buy-bust operation conducted by the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF) at around 8:15 p.m. of Sept. 16, 2003.

Senior Superintendent Francisco Arada said they conducted a surveillance operation on Vergara after receiving a reliable tip from an asset that the accused was a "Level 2 drug pusher," meaning he could come up with 50 grams of shabu and deliver about a kilo of prohibited drugs.

Arada told AID-SOTF chief Deputy Director General Edgardo Aglipay that to entrap the accused, he needed to produce a P1.1 million as "show money." It was a huge amount, which he guarded with his life because of the instruction of Aglipay that if he loses the money, it would be charged to his retirement.

Arada posed as a buyer and transacted with the accused. He pretended to be a drug dealer based in Region 6 visiting Manila with his wife.

Tapping his real wife Mary Jane, a lawyer, for the operation, Arada rented a room at the fifth floor of the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City.

Initially, the trade was arranged at the hotel’s parking lot on Sept. 15 last year, but the accused failed to show up and rescheduled their meeting the following day.

On Sept. 16, Vergara alighted from a vehicle driven by Anita Estropia. Instead of waiting at the parking lot, the accused, accompanied by the asset, went to Arada’s room.

Mary Jane opened the door and negotiated with the shabu peddler.

The illegal drugs were placed in a blue box, which was inside a white paper bag. Once she was in possession of the illegal drugs, she called Arada on the phone and pretended to ask for the combination of the vault where the P1.1 million was being kept.

The phone call was the pre-arranged signal that she has already seen the shabu. Arada along with his police team entered the room and apprehended Vergara.

But the accused denied allegations he was a drug dealer, saying he was unaware that he carried illegal drugs.

He was led to believe that the paper bag contained "loose stones" and that he would receive a P30,000 commission in the sale.

But the court was not convinced by his explanation.

"This court is more inclined to accept the view that the essential elements of the crime charged against the accused, i.e. selling prohibited drugs like shabu, was clearly established by the people’s evidence," the judge said.