Trader gets life term for
shabu sale to cop
BY CARLA GOMEZ

A trader from Mindanao accused of selling shabu to a policeman was sentenced yesterday to life imprisonment, while two trisikad drivers facing drug raps were acquitted.

Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of the Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 yesterday sentenced Larry Almada Sultan to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000 for the sale of .080 gram of shabu to PO2 Tony Hechanova for P1,000, in a buy-bust operation on Dec. 6, 2012, in violation of Section 5, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002.

Sultan was also sentenced to imprisonment of 20 years and one day and to pay a fine of P400,000 for possession of 8.810 grams of the illegal drugs.

Sin tax making up for PDAF loss
FOR HOSPITAL CARE OF
INDIGENTS: DRILON
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The doubling of the sin tax allocation for universal health care this year, of which Western Visayas is expected to get a large share, will sufficiently address the needs of indigent patients with the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund of lawmakers.

This was disclosed yesterday by Dr. Julius Drilon, chief of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City, who said the sin tax allocation of P12.9 billion for universal health care in 2013 will be doubled this year.

He said that last year, the CLMMRH received about P17 million in PDAF allocations from congressmen and senators to assist indigent patients, and there is still a balance of P6 million available.

Suspects in cop's slay positive for
gunpowder; Nicor denies link
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The five suspects linked to the killing of SPO2 Rex de los Reyes have tested positive for gunpowder nitrates, bolstering the testimonies of witnesses that implicated them in the death of the police officer, Senior Supt. Milko Lirazan, provincial police director, said yesterday.

The five suspects identified as Michael Jancilan, Roger Garilba, Vicente Poleros, Eduardo Montano and Openiano Dolar are facing murder charges, for the fatal shooting of de los Reyes in Hinigaran Sunday.

However, the results of the ballistic tests on the firearms recovered from the arrested suspects are expected to be known probably by next week, Chief Inspector Lino Dalisay, Hinigaran police chief, said.