Dismissal of drug raps vs. Muslim trader reversed, arrest order out
An order for the arrest of an alleged drug pusher is in the offing following his involvement in a controversial drug arrest in July. With no bail recommended, Cairoden Abdullah alias “Cairo” stand to be arrested in a drug complaint docketed as I.S. No. 1614-05.
In an Amended Resolution, Abdullah’s fate changed for the worst in a reversal of an earlier Resolution of the Iloilo City Prosecutors’ Office that then dismissed the charges against him. Standing as complainant was the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Office 6.
The review came amidst questions raised on the handling of the complaint against said person. To recall, Abdullah’s arrest came after the early morning raid in his residence at Leofel Village, Barangay Ticud, Lapaz, Iloilo City. Raiding PDEA team headed by SPO1 Romeo Hualde was armed with a Search Warrant issued by Branch 31 Presiding Judge Rene Hortillo.
The search yielded suspected Shabu inside a box concealed among the used clothes. Yet in the preliminary investigation conducted thereafter, Abdullah denied the charges while saying that the PDEA agents forced their way inside his residence and robbed him of his constitutional right of having the presence of his counsel during the raid.
The initial dismissal came after Prosecutor Honorio Aragona Jr. averred that there was “patent disregard and violation of duly established rules and procedure committed by the PDEA agents in the conduct of the said search subject of this investigation. Not only was the search conducted on the wee hours of the morning but the respondent was denied of his basic constitutional rights.”
City Prosecutor Chief Efrain Baldago disagreed with such findings and reversed the decision stating that the search warrant of the raiding team was validly issued and was still in force and effect when served. It went on to state that “the defense of “planting” evidence is untenable. It is a desperate attempt on the part of the respondent to twist the facts.” And finally, Baldago maintained that physical evidence is evidence of the highest order which “speaks more eloquently than a hundred witnesses.”
“Between categorical statements of the complainants, on the one hand and bare denials of the respondents, on the other hand, the former must perforce prevail,” excerpts of the Amended Resolution stated. “The defenses raised by the respondent, if at all they cannot be considered as self-serving, are better left to the province and competence of the Court where the accused’s evidence can be fully presented, weighed and analyzed upon a full-blown trial on the merits.”