2 men get life sentences for selling shabu to cop

TWO MEN on Tuesday were sentenced to life imprisonment for drug peddling by a Makati judge.

Nestor Torres and Carlos Santillan were also fined P500,000 each by Judge Gina Bibat-Palamos of the Makati Regional Trial Court.

Santillan was meted out additional penalties—15 years in jail and a P400,000 fine—after the police found more drugs in his possession after his arrest.

Both men were collared in a buy-bust operation at the corner of Limbo and Garcia Streets in Barangay Pinagkaisahan, Makati, on Jan. 29, 2009, while selling 0.25 grams of shabu to an undercover policeman.

When the police frisked Santillan, they found more sachets containing shabu on him.

A concerned citizen had tipped off the police about the drug peddling activities of the accused, who were included in the watch list of the Makati Anti-Drug Abuse Council, court records showed.

Both Torres and Santillan, however, denied the allegation against them although the court ruled that the evidence presented by the prosecution was sufficient to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

During the trial proper, the prosecution was able to present the drugs recovered from both men during the entrapment operation, the court noted.

“The defense of denial by both accused was unavailing,” the court added. “[It] cannot surmount the positive and affirmative testimony offered by the prosecution … The rule is that affirmative testimony is far weightier than a mere denial.”