4 foreigners facing drug raps ask court to let them post bail

Ex-governor Luis “Chavit” Singson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The foreigners recently arrested by ex-governor Luis “Chavit” Singson are asking a Quezon City court to let them post bail while the drug charges against them are being reinvestigated.

In a two-page pleading, the foreign nationals appealed for their immediate release on bail, pending the completion of the preliminary investigation.

Accused British nationals James Gates, Jack McLeod, Ross Barnaby Mcleod and Australian Arthur Murray Nash filed their motion to post bail through lawyer Elizabeth Macaibay on Thursday.

Executive judge Fernando Sagun of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court has directed assistant city prosecutor Irene Resurreccion to submit her comment on the accused’s bid to post bail.

McLeod et al were apprehended by virtue of a citizens’ arrest by Singson, who claimed he caught the foreigners using illegal drugs inside his house in Corinthian Gardens last Sunday.

The Eastwood police station charged the foreigners with drug use, possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, all bailable offenses under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Singson claimed that he arrived at his house and chanced upon the foreigners, who were visitors, allegedly smoking marijuana at around 5 a.m. last Sunday.

The former governor seized from them cigarettes with suspected marijuana allegedly mixed inside.

The seized contraband later tested positive for marijuana. Mcleod et al refused to undergo a drug test following the citizens’ arrest.

The accused, however, opted to answer the charges in a preliminary investigation as they asked the court to let them post bail pending completion of the reinvestigation.