Bicol’s top drug lord gets 20 years in jail

A Naga Regional Trial Court  has sentenced the alleged kingpin of the notorious Chinglo drug syndicate to at least 20 years in prison, finally wrapping up a 13-year-old case that brought Bicol’s No. 1 drug syndicate to court.

In his 29-page decision, Branch 61 Judge Soliman Santos Jr. found Victor Lorenzo “Chinglo” Rosales guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the charges of illegal drug possession and ordered him to pay a fine of P400,000.

However, Santos also sought a review of the “clearly excessive penalties” under Republic Act No. 9165, and in that context the consideration of some form of executive clemency for Rosales at some point.

‘Shabu’ in attic

Santos ruled against Rosales’ argument that the NBI’s discovery of “shabu” in the attic of their duplex house in Balatas, Naga City, was questionable because he no longer lived there since 2004.

“The court is convinced of his nonresidency at the Rosales duplex, but this fact does not necessarily negate constructive possession of the subject premises,” Santos wrote.

The judge noted Rosales’ and his own family’s testimonies that he visited frequently and had regular access to the said attic, to the point that his own wife and children, “even in his absence, [would] ordinarily dare not enter.”

Santos also found little merit in the testimony of defense witness Romulo Portes Jr., who insinuated that lead agents Special Investigators Joel Otic and Roy Rufino Suñega planted the drugs in Rosales’ compound after seeing them conduct two separate searches in the attic.

Otic and Suñega had argued that the first search was merely a clearing operation and maintained their strict adherence to standard operational procedures.

“In this court’s view, not being familiar with such searches…[it] is quite probable that Portes mistook the NBI clearing operation to be the actual search.”