A Bacolod maintenance worker, tagged as a seller of marijuana to students, was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for selling the illegal substance to a police officer in a buy-bust operation.

Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 Judge Raymond Joseph Javier found Oliver Siachongco Matus guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the sale of marijuana in violation of Section 5, Article II, of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay the fine of P500,000.

Matus was charged for selling two knot-tied marijuana cigarets weighting .25 gram to a police poseur buyer on Sept. 8, 2008.

He was also found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of possession of marijuana, in violation of Section II, Article II, of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act  of 2002, and sentenced to 12 years and 8 months as minimum to 17 years and 8 months as maximum, and to pay a fine of P300,000 in Criminal Case 08-31764.

Upon his arrest in the buy-bust operation, the police told the court 11 more sticks of marijuana were seized from him.

Javier ordered the jail warden of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology male dormitory in Barangay Taculing, Bacolod, to immediately transfer Matus to the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City for the service of his sentence.

The marijuana seized from Matus was ordered to be turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for destruction.

Matus, who had pleaded not guilty, said he would file an appeal.

The court was told that, on Sept. 3, 2008, the police received a text message that a certain Oliver was selling marijuana to students of John B. Lacson College at ECC Village in Barangay Alijis, Bacolod.

This prompted the police to conduct a buy-bust operation on Matus who, they said, operated his illegal activities inside a billiard hall located at the ECC Village.

PO3 Ian Piano of the Bacolod City Anti Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group, along with a police asset, met Matus at the billiard hall and informed him that they wanted to buy two sticks of marijuana, to which he replied, “I am living here and you can sniff anywhere. There is a CR and there are a lot of people sniffing here”.

Piano told Matus that he would do his sniffing at home and handed the money for two marijuana cigarets to the accused, and gave the pre-arranged signal for the rest of the police team to arrest Matus, the court was told.

The 11 sticks and a small brick of marijuana were recovered inside the knapsack of Matus, Piano said.

For his defense, Matus denied that he was selling marijuana at the billiard hall and said he was surprised that he was arrested.

But the judge said the plaintiff presented overwhelming evidence that the accused sold and possessed marijuana on Sept. 8, 2008, and, consequently, a guilty verdict is in order.*CPG

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