CEBU RTC JUDGE IMPOSES LIFE JAIL TERM ON TWO DRUG PUSHERS

CEBU CITY -- A Regional Trial Court judge here has sentenced to life
imprisonment two big-time pushers after it found the accused guilty of
selling nearly 200 grams of "shabu" about two years ago.

Aside from imposing the life sentence, RTC Judge Fortunato de Gracia Jr.
also ordered Noel Prajes, 32, and Alipa Mala, 22, who were arrested during
an entrapment operation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on
Sept. 4, 2002, to pay a fine of half-million pesos.

The NBI alleged the accused connived in selling 195.65 grams of "shabu" to
its agents in barangay Kinasang-an, Pardo, Cebu City.

Prajes and Mala operated in Cebu City and in southern towns, the NBI said.

The arrest was made a day after NBI agents arrested Reynaldo Sabayton, who
divulged the operation of Prajes.

Prajes told the court that he used to sniff "shabu" when he was still
driving a taxicab so he would not fall asleep. He denied the lawmen seized
from him almost 200 grams of shabu, claiming that the quantity he handed
over to the poseur-buyer was worth only R50,000.

He said he had tested positive for the fluorescent powder dusted on the
money used for the "buy-bust" operation because the agents slapped his
knuckles with the bills after his arrest.

A certain Magdalena Abarquez testified in defense of Mala. She said that
before the arrest, Mala was playing cards near Prajes' place but was
pulled inside and was prevented from leaving the house. He was then
arrested by the NBI.

Sabayton, who was presented as a hostile witness for the defense, said
that shortly after the NBI operatives planted shabu on him, they asked for
a "gift," in the form of names of persons they would arrest in exchange
for his freedom.

Anxious, he said, he pinpointed to Prajes, a sniffing buddy.

He corroborated Prajes' claim that the latter actually did not hold the
money, claiming that the NBI did not keep its promise and he has not been
released from jail.