Man cleared of drug charges

After languishing in jail for almost nine years, a resident of Brgy. 1, Bacolod City, facing drug charges was acquitted and ordered released by a Regional Trial Court Judge.

RTC Branch 52 Judge Raymond Joseph Javier ordered the release from prison of Jose Irving Palabrica of Purok Barracuda, Brgy. 1, Bacolod for the failure of the prosecution to prove that he indeed violated section 5 of Republic Act 9165, or illegal drugs sale.

Palabrica and the brother of his live-in partner, Eric Hudierrez, who was only 17 years old then, were arrested in a buy-bust operation conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, then headed by Insp. Joemarie Occeño, on September 22, 2003, in Purok Barracuda, the court was told.

Two elongated sachets of suspected shabu and P200 in marked money were reportedly recovered from them during their arrest, the court was also told.

In handing his 13-page decision, Javier stressed that the plaintiff, which is PDEA, never offered an inventory as its documentary evidence.

He also stressed that of utmost importance is the preservation of the integrity and the evidentiary value of the seized items, as the same would be utilized in the determination of the guilt or innocence of the accused.*APN

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‘Husband commits suicide'

A disheartened husband committed suicide by hanging himself with an elastic bandage at his house in Brgy. Banago, Bacolod City, yesterday.

Station 3 chief, Senior Insp. Conrado Rances, identified the casualty as Melecio Estandarte, 57, of Purok Kamansi, Bacolod.

Joan Silva, Estandarte's house helper, found him suspended from the ceiling near the window of his room at about 7:10 a.m. yesterday and immediately informed his relatives, a police record showed.

Rances said one of Estandarte's relatives, whose name he did not disclose, told them that he had been depressed since his wife, whose name the police withheld, filed charges for violation of Republic Act 9262, or Violence against Women and Children's Act against him.

Although it appears that Estandarte killed himself, Rances said, they requested City Medico Legal Officer Ely Cong to conduct an autopsy on his remains to erase doubts of foul play.*APN

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