Two convicted drug den operators from Virac not only lost their bid to overturn the decision of the Regional Trial Court but one of them was burdened by the Court of Appeals with an additional P4.2 million in fines.
In a decision rendered last March 8, 2024, the CA First Division headed by Associate Justice Mariflor P. Punzalan Castillo denied the separate appeals filed by Manuel “Galog” Almojera Huit Jr. and June “Gorio” Pereyra Bozar for lack of merit.
In affirming the judgment of RTC Branch 43 in five separate cases, the court modified the decision in Criminal Case No. 5760 for Illegal Possession of Dangerous Drugs by ordering both accused to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment and to each pay a fine of P500,000.00.
In Criminal Case No. 5803 for Maintenance of a Drug Den, the court ordered the two accused to each suffer the penalty of life imprisonment and to each pay a fine of P5 million each.
It may be recalled that in 2020, then RTC Branch 43 Presiding Judge Lelu P. Contreras found Huit guilty of illegal possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, maintenance of a drug den, and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunitions.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in two of the cases, an additional penalty of eight to 12 years in prison plus a total fine of P5.41 million.
On the other hand, Bozar was found guilty by the Virac RTC of illegal possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintenance of a drug den, for which he was meted life imprisonment, an additional 14 years in jail and total fines of P1.31 million.
During the implementation of the search warrant against the duo and one Juenalen Vargas on Jan. 19, 2016, the police knocked on Room 9 at Queen Maricel Inn in San Isidro Village and came upon two men and three woman inside.
A search of the room turned up numerous sachets of shabu with a total weight of 31.513 grams as well as various drug paraphernalia, a Cal. 38 revolver and ammunition.
In their separate appeals filed shortly after their conviction, the duo claimed that the RTC gravely erred in convicting them on the basis of inadmissible evidence seized during an illegal search and the police’s failure to establish an unbroken chain of custody of the illegal drugs, among others.
The Court of Appeals, however, denied the twin appeals and affirmed the finding of the RTC that the prosecution was able to prove the validity of the search warrant, the identity of the seized dangerous drugs and firearms as corpus delicti, as well as all the elements of the crimes charged.
It noted that the accused never assailed the validity of the search warrant before the trial court, with the CA finding no evidence that the search team failed to comply with the “knock and announce” principle.
On the claim that the accused did not know of the presence of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia in the two rooms, the Court stressed that the evidence on record showed Huit was a regular customer at the inn, with one of the women admitting during trial that she and her co-accused used drugs during the time before the raid, with another companion saying that drugs were packed and used in one of the rooms.
On their argument that the police failed to comply with the chain of custody requirement, the CA found no recognizable gaps in the chain of custody in the case.