The Regional Trial Court Branch 30 in Negros Oriental on Monday meted three individuals a sentence of life imprisonment and additional 14 years maximum after finding them guilty of selling and for possession of illegal drugs.
Alan Paul Cariño and Christopher Cariño, who are cousins, were meted one life term each for delivering 4.74 grams of shabu to a police-poseur buyer in violation of Article 5, Article II of RA 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act in March of 2015. They were fined P500,000 each.
The third individual sentenced to life imprisonment is Richard Ramos Gonzales for violation of Section 5 and Section 11 of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
The court slapped the conspiracy theory on the cousins because they were together on board one motorcycle even if only one of them was contacted to claim the package at a LBC courier outlet in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental.
Christopher Cariño testified that he was contacted by Angel Ragay, another cousin, to claim the package at the Tanjay LBC because she could not get out from the provincial jail being a detainee also accused of violating Section 5 of RA 9165.
He then contacted his cousin Alan Paul Cariño to go with him in claiming the package that contained gummy bears, some biscuits and a box of Choco Mucho.
He was instructed to give the Choco Mucho which contained shabu to a jail guard at the provincial jail.
According to Judge Crescencio Tan Jr., the court cannot give credence to the testimonies of the accused because based on the photograph of the LBC website, the package was indeed received by a certain Vicente Dominado, not at the Tanjay City branch but in the nearby Bais City branch.
This is contrary to the claim of Christopher Cariño that they were the ones who claimed it at the LBC in Tanjay.
The testimonies of the defense now becomes unbelievable, considering their false testimonies on this crucial matter, the Judge said.
Falsus in Uno, Falsus in Omnibus (false in one thing, false in everything), a Roman legal principle indicating that a witness who willfully falsifies one matter is not credible on any other matter.
Judge Tan further said the inability of the two accused to predicate their defense on anything other than their words, and that of an unbelievable witness in the person of Angel Ragay who is also facing charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law, ultimately condemns them to prison.
He considered the prosecution’s version believable, and in accord with reality, that on that day, a transaction was made between the Cariños and the police-poseur buyer including the confidential informant while at the capitol area.
The third accused Richard Gonzales was arrested on May 27, 2015 through a buy-bust operation also by the Provincial Intelligence Branch in the housing site in Cadawinonan, and subsequent search yielded seven more sachets of shabu. He was fined a total of P900.000. (jfp/JG)
