22 face drug,
gambling charges

Twenty-two persons in Bacolod City have been charged by the police for violations of Republic Act 9165 and Presidential Decree 1602, the Philippine National Police said yesterday.

Supt. Pedrito Escarilla, Branch chief of the Bacolod City Police Office Intelligence and Investigation unit, said they have filed illegal drugs and gambling charges against the 19 persons arrested during a late night raid in Purok Sigay, Brgy. 2, Bacolod City Friday. One of the 19 is a BCPO Traffic Management Unit enforcer who is now being investigated by the BCPO Human Resources and Legal Departments, the police said.

The BCPO Drug Enforcement Unit said it has also filed drug charges against three suspects apprehended in a buy-bust operation in Brgy. 2, Monday.

Two of those arrested by the IIB Branch were released after they tested negative in the drug tests, the police said.

Meanwhile, BCPO director Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar had said that he will look into reports that certain policemen are protecting illegal drugs and gambling activities in Brgy 2, which he had earlier tagged as a drugs area of concern along with Brgy. 8.*PP

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IN KABANKALAN
2 acquitted of estafa rap

Two residents of Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, were cleared of estafa charges by Regional Trial Court Branch 61 Judge Henry Arles in Kabankalan City yesterday.

Tarcila Torre and Cornelio Dumaguete were acquitted of estafa through falsification of public documents on the grounds of reasonable doubt yesterday, court records showed.

Arles said that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence that the accused conspired, confederated and helped Torres' husband, Hernane, in the commission of the crime. Hernane died of pneumonia while the case was still on trial and was cleared by Arles from criminal liability.

The case stemmed from a complaint lodged by Gerardo Tarrosa after a lending company threatened to foreclose the portion of the 125 square meters of land sold to him by Torre and her husband for P25,000 in 1996, the court said.

Tarrosa told the court that he discovered a number of inconsistencies in the land title of the Torres land at the Registry of Deeds after V.I. Finance told him that the property he had bought from Torres will be foreclosed.

He said the Torreses mortgaged the whole land to the lending firm including the part he had bought and sold it again to Dumaguete despite having transacted a portion of the property with him already.

Tarcila, however, said that she did not know about Hernane's transaction with Tarrosa as she was in Manila during that time.

She also denied having authorized her husband to sell a part of the land to Tarrosa, saying that she had not signed any document on the sale.

Dumaguete, on the other hand, said, that he did not know that the property he bought from the Torres had already been sold to Tarrosa earlier.

Arles upheld Tarcila's testimony, saying that the signature specimen's she submitted to the court were different from the authorization letter she allegedly signed to allow Hernane to sell a part of their land to Tarrosa.

He also gave credit to Dumaguete's claim that he did not know of the Torres' transaction with Tarrosa before he bought the property of the couple.*PP

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