Pubdate: Wed, 18 Aug 2004 Source: Sunstar Davao (Philippines) Copyright: 2004 Sunstar Contact: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1991 Note: also listed for feedback Author: Raquel C. Bagnol Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) COP GETS 8-YEAR TERM FOR SHABU POSSESSION THE Regional Trial Court (RTC) has sentenced a policeman to a maximum eight-year jail term after he was found guilty of possessing two small sachets of shabu when arrested in an abandoned house on Quezon Boulevard, Davao City three years ago. In an 11-page decision issued Tuesday, RTC Branch 17 and Branch 9 Judge Renato A. Fuentes sentenced PO2 Allan Lipa, detailed at the Talomo Police Station, for two counts of violation of the Republic Act 6425, otherwise known as the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2001. Fuentes pinned Lipa to the charges after the prosecution panel presented sufficient proof that he possessed a total of .1258 grams of shabu when he was arrested by elements of the now-defuncted Regional Anti-Narcotics Office (Rano) 11 at around 6:45 p.m. on October 15, 2001. Lipa denied the charges in court during his arraignment. Records show that Rano-11 received a call from a concerned citizen to report that a pot session was in progress inside an abandoned house in Barangay 21-C on Jacinto Street. Rano-11 immediately formed a team and went to the area resulting to the arrest of Lipa and four other companions. Aside from the sachets of shabu, Rano-11 operatives also confiscated a .38 caliber revolver from Lipa. For the defense, Lipa denied involvement in the charges and claimed that he was just standing and talking to a Muslim missionary at an alley in the barangay when Rano operatives arrested him. But after evaluating the evidences presented, the court junked Lipa's defense and ruled that the testimonies of the arresting officers were much credible.