A MANILA court has sentenced two men to life imprisonment for selling a kilo of shabu in Malate, Manila, in 2016.
In a decision released on December 13, 2018, Judge Emilio Rodolfo Legaspi III of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 13 convicted Asnawe Macabato and Abdul Montaquim Goco after finding them guilty of violating Section 5 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Aside from prison term, they were also fined P500,000 each.
Court records show that on January 19, 2016, PO2 Joseph Halago of the MPD District Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Task Group (DAID-STOG) received information that Macabato and Goco were involved in illegal drug trade and they were using a metallic blue Toyota Altis vehicle during their transactions.
The informant also told Halago that he personally had a transaction with the two.
The Manila Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) conducted a buy-bust operation on January 21, 2016 on Guererro Street near San Andres Street in Malate Manila.
They were arrested after they transacted with an undercover cop and the informant. A sachet of shabu and buy-bust money worth P2,000 were recovered from them.
“The allegations of Asnawe Macabato and Abdul Montaquim Goco are unbelievable on the planting of shabu, considering that from their very own testimonies the planting was made in the Puregold (store) area where mediamen were already present when they arrived,” the decision read.
Judge Legaspi ordered the commitment of the convicted drug pushers to New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. (Erma Edera)