Pubdate: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 Source: Sun.Star Cebu (Philippines) Copyright: 2005 Sun.Star Contact: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1690 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines 'INCREDIBLE' TESTIMONY SAVES INMATE FROM LONG JAIL TERM TWO inmates of the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center who both have drug cases suffered contrasting fates last week: one will have to spend 20 more years in jail, while the other can now walk free. Aircon technician Teofilo Gurrea Llanto, who was charged with selling a packet of shabu, did not expect he would be given a long jail term for selling .06 grams of the illegal drug. But with the new comprehensive drugs law, selling drugs is punishable with life imprisonment to death, regardless of amounts. On top of his imprisonment term of 20 years and one day to 40 years, Llanto was also directed to pay a fine of P500,000 for his offense. Prosecution witness PO1 Patrick Mumar, 29, said he was connected with the Drug Enforcement Unit when they conducted a buy-bust operation against Llanto last Jan. 9, 2003 in Day-as, Cebu City. When they arrested Llanto, they recovered from the accused the buy-bust money and the drugs Llanto allegedly sold. In another case, however, Nestor C. Niala got cleared of a drug possession charge. Judge Fortunato de Gracia Jr., in his decision, said he found the testimony of the policemen about the arrest "preposterous." Prosecution witnesses PO3 Francisco Balansag and PO2 Deogracias Clarin alleged that at 3:45 p.m. last Feb. 23, 2002, they saw Niala holding a packet of shabu while they were walking on a footpath in Ermita, Cebu City. Balansag said he and two other policemen were just about a meter or two away from the accused, but they said that Niala did not notice them. In his ruling, de Gracia said the prosecution's claim that the accused held a packet of shabu in their presence was just too good to be true. "The circumstances defy belief on the fact of arrest as plainly incredible. While the court vests upon law enforcement agencies the presumption of regularity in the performance of official duties, yet the same should withstand the test of credibility," the ruling read. - ---