Pusher gets life for 221 grams of shabu

Two drug pushers and a drug user were slapped with separate jail terms, one of them ordered jailed for life for keeping 221 grams of shabu.

The court has ruled that Alex Hermosa of S. Borces Street, Mabolo, Cebu City, Edgardo Penida of Cabantan street, Mabolo, and Rizarte Mabanag of barangay Tangke, Talisay City are guilty of violating the old anti-drugs law.

Hermosa was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt after Regional Trial Court judge Ireneo Lee Gako brushed aside his alibi that the more than 200 grams of shabu that was seized from his hut didn't belong to him.

Aside from the penalty of reclusion perpetua, Hermosa was also ordered to pay a fine of P500,000. Mabanag was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for selling a pack of shabu to a poseur buyer in Tangke, Talisay on March 19, 1999. When he was already arrested, ten more packs of shabu were seized from him.RTC judge Soliver Peras gave more credence to the testimonies of the Talisay policemen who nabbed Mabanag and dismissed the alibi of the accused who claimed he was innocent and was just a victim of a frame-up. - Rene U. Borromeo and Liv G. Campo