The special court in Negros Oriental for drug cases has meted life sentences to five women and two men, while one other man was sentenced to a maximum of 14 years in jail for selling shabu.
Sentenced to life imprisonment in three joint judgments by RTC Branch 30 Judge Rafael Crescencio Tan were Marlyn Gonzales, Elmie Lindayao, Evangeline Abella, Mae Ann Sendiong, Horace Ruta, Rene Antique and Rosefil Anlap. They were arrested in three separate buy-bust operations in Dumaguete in 2008. The women convicts were also ordered to pay a fine of Php 500,000 each.
In another judgment, Juandom Palencia was found guilty for illegal possession of shabu and sentenced to suffer an indeterminate penalty of from 12 to 14 years and to pay a fine of Php 400,000.00. Palencia was found to be in possession of one heat-sealed transparent sachet containing 0.01 gram of shabu in an anti-narcotic operation at Zone 4, Barangay Looc, Dumaguete City last April 21, 2008.
All the accused in these cases simply put up the defense of denial, which the Court said was an inherently weak defense. It is also a common standard line of defense in most prosecutions arising from violations of R.A. No. 9165.
The Court said the defense of denial is even weaker in these cases in the face of positive identification of all the accused by the prosecution witnesses, who are presumed to have been in the regular performance of their official duties.
These convicted female prisoners will now be transported to the Correctional Institution for Women at Mandaluyong City while the convicted male prisoners will be transported to the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.