STUDENT GETS LIFE FOR P200 SHABU

A 24-YEAR-OLD education student was meted life imprisonment and ordered to
pay a P5-million fine for selling a sachet of methampethamine hydrochloride
weighing just .0321 of a gram for P200.

But he's still considered lucky because he escaped the death row all
because of a technicality.

Judge Adoracion Avisado of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 9 on
Monday convicted Rodolfo Tubio, alias "Jongjong", of Mentor Village,
Malagapas, Cotabato City.

Tubio was arrested at around 5 p.m. on February 6 near the Sta. Ana Church
on Sta Ana Avenue in Davao City.

A female civilian informant (CI) called the Philippine Drug Enforcement
Agency (PDEA) and informed them that a certain Jongjong was selling shabu
near the church.

PDEA 11 chief Wilkins Villanueva immediately organized a buy-bust
operation, where PO1 Loreto Dalangin was tasked as the poseur-buyer. He was
given P200 marked money.

Dalangin went with informant to the appointed place and introduced Dalangin
as a buyer.

As soon as Tubio saw the P200, he fished out a sachet of shabu weighing
.0321 of a gram and handed it to Dalangin.

Immediately, Dalangin signaled to his partners to go in for the arrest.

Aside from being caught in a buy-bust operation, Tubio's urine test also
proved positive of shabu.

Tubio denied the accusations in court. He insisted that he was on his way
to his boarding house on Lapu-lapu Street, at that time when he met his
co-boarder.

He claimed he hitched a ride on his co-boarder's bike. When he reached Sta.
Ana church, a woman whom he knew since high school called him. When he came
near, police suddenly arrested him over allegations that he was an addict.

After evaluating the evidence presented, the court found that the
testimonies of the prosecution witnesses were straightforward and credible.

The failure of the PNP Crime lab to conduct a urine test earlier than the
period allowed by the law under Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous
Drugs Act of 2002) proved beneficial to Tubio. He could not be meted the
death penalty because of this.