Man gets life for selling P200 worth of shabu to cop in sting operation

BACOLOD CITY – A local resident will have to spend the rest of his life in jail for selling P200 worth of shabu — to a cop.

Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of the Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 47 found Stephan Suarez Cabiles guilty of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for selling .04 grams of shabu to an undercover policeman in 2005.

He also ordered Cabiles to pay a fine of P500,000.

Cabiles pleaded not guilty during his arraignment and claimed that he was framed up by the police.

Court records showed that Senior Police Officer 4 Ernesto Gonzales, then chief of the Bacolod City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group, set up a buy-bust operation on Oct. 21, 2005, a day after receiving information that Cabiles was engaged in the sale of illegal drugs.

Police Officer 1 Ian Piano acted as the buyer in the operation that busted Cabiles.

In his decision, Judge Javier said that Piano’s testimony was “absent any evil motive and deserves full faith and credit.”

He ruled that Cabiles’ claim that he was arrested while he was buying sardines and rice at a store deserved scant consideration.