A Bacolod resident was meted a minimum prison term of six months to a maximum of two years and four months for violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

Judge Fernando Elumba of the Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 42 found Pancho Arcolas guilty beyond reasonable doubt of unlawfully and feloniously selling to a police poseur-buyer one deck of shabu weighing 0.2 gram on Oct. 7, 1999.

Records show that after two weeks of surveillance on the accused, P/S Insp. Calixto Mabugat of Bacolod Police Precinct 3 led a team of police officers in a buy-bust operation at Gold Crest Subdivision in Barangay Bata.

Divided into two groups, the policemen positioned themselves outside the perimeter fence of the compound where the exchange of the marked money and the shabu between the poseur-buyer and Arcolas took place, court records show.

When the police officers saw the exchange, they immediately entered the compound but the sound of the gate opening alerted Arcolas who ran and jumped to the creek nearby. The policemen caught up with him at the opposite side of the creek but when frisked and arrested, nothing was recovered from him.

In his decision, Elumba said that it is basic in the rule of evidence that the prosecution has to establish the guilt of the accused.

The judge cited the inconsistencies in the testimonies of Arcolas, citing his failure to explain why he had to jump into the flowing creek when he saw the arresting officers.

"The defense of the accused is anchored mainly on denial, a feeble defense, which is negative and self-serving, thus, deserves no weight in law when unsubstantiated by clear and convincing evidence," Elumba said in his decision.

The judge added that the raiding team were not shown to be inspired with an improper motive or were not performing their duties in accordance with law in carrying out the buy-bust operation.*NAB

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