A resident of Virac has been sentenced to a maximum of 30 years imprisonment for possession of 436 grams of dried marijuana leaves in his residence during a police raid one year ago.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 42 Presiding Judge Genie G. Gapas-Agbada founr Rogelio Guerrero Belaro of Sogod-Tibgao (BLISS) guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Sec. 11 of Republic Act No. 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and sentenced him to suffer the penalty of imprisonment ranging from 20 years and one day as minimum to 30 years as maximum.
He was likewise ordered to pay a fine of P100,000.00, with the confiscated marijuana leaves and fruiting tops and seeds ordered transmitted to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA) for destruction.
Information filed before the Court stated that, acting on a search warrant issued by RTC Branch 43 Presiding Judge Lelu P. Contreras, a team led by PDEA designated officer Chief Insp. Alejo Hernandez searched the house on Belaro in the presence of radio announcer Jocelyn Buena and barangay kagawads Edwin Benavidez and Augusto Cervantes as witnesses.
The team found a plastic sachet containing dried marijuana leaves and fruiting tops and one folded piece of paper containing the same dried leaves on top of the chicken coop inside the bathroom. At the dirty kitchen, a cop found a brick of dried marijuana leaves and two plastic sachets containing the same inserted at the roof of the kitchen. Laboratory tests yielded positive results for the presence of marijuana.
During trial, Belaro denied the charge and claimed, among others, that a man with a search warrant frisked him and took P600 from his pocket and that Chief Insp. Hernandez did not allow him to witness the search. He likewise alleged that the "dapog" in which the marijuana brick was found was not a part of their house but a separate structure.
The Court, however, noted that the search witnesses affirmed the regularity of the search and that the chain of custody of the seized drug was never broken. The marijuana leaves were found in the comfort room and dirty kitchen of the accused’ house, where he exercises dominion and control, it said.
Judge Gapas-Agbada added that the procedure in conducting the search was complied with and that the inconsistencies in the testimony of prosecution witnesses do not adversely affect the veracity of the rest of their testimony. "It would be unthinkable for the police officers, the media representative and the barangay official to impute a crime that would send someone to jail if the imputation is not true," she stressed, concluding that the evidence for the prosecution survived the test of moral certainty.