A tricycle driver from Virac who was caught with P304,000 worth of shabu in a buy-bust operation a year ago has been sentenced to two life imprisonments and ordered to pay a fine of P1 million.
The Regional Trial Court found Eddie Molina Bien, 41, also known as “Tiiw,” guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Sections 5 and 11 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2003.
“The guilt of the accused of the crime of illegal sale and illegal possession of dangerous drugs have been proven to a legal and moral certainty,” RTC Branch 42 Presiding Judge Genie G. Gapas-Agbada stated in her June 10, 2022 decision.
Bien’s downfall began on June 23, 2021 when a confidential informant told the police of Bien’s illegal drug activities, with the CI instructed to arrange a drug deal worth P5,000.
Before midnight, the informant confirmed that the deal was on and would take place the following morning near the BIR office in San Isidro Village, with Bien to drive a tricycle with body number 2386 and wear a white shirt, blue pants and violet mask.
By 7:20 AM of June 24, the police team and the witnesses were already deployed around the site.
But Bien arrived after more than an hour, stopping the tricycle and approaching the undercover lawman who asked him if he was Tiiw.
When Bien answered yes and asked about the money, the poseur-buyer gave him the buy-bust money consisting of a real P1,000 bill and four bogus ones.
Upon receipt of the payment, the tricycle driver took out a black coin purse from his left front pocket, got from it a folded piece of paper and handed it to the buyer, who confirmed that it contained a sachet of suspected drug.
At once, the lawman turned his back and removed his hat to signal that the transaction had been consummated.
Bien was immediately arrested and a subsequent search of his person in the presence of witnesses led to discovery of two other sachets inside the coin purse.
Laboratory examination confirmed that the contents of the three sachets were shabu with a total weight of 44.751 grams.
In his defense, Bien claimed that the drug items were planted evidence as he felt that something was inserted in his pant’s pocket when he was arrested.
He alleged that he brought a passenger to the BIR office that morning and he gave the latter change, the passenger reached for the tricycle key and turned off the engine, with four men lifting him out of the driver’s seat and putting a handcuff on him.
The Court, however, pointed out that the searching officer was bodily searched by the witnesses and nothing was found on him and that Bien did not report to the authorities or filed an action on the alleged irregularities.
On the other hand, it said that the police witnesses were able to present a complete picture of the buy-bust operation, including the subsequent body search on Bien.
At the time, Bien was included in the Recalibrated Priority Database on Illegal Drugs as a “High-Value Individual.”
Intelligence reports had said that he had been active in the drug trade in the past year even during the pandemic and continued his activities in the first semester of 2021, using his tricycle to deliver illegal drugs to his customers at designated areas.