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.