Parojinog Jr. gets life term for illegal drugs
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Fri, 31 May 2019 08:42:41 +0000
A Quezon City court on Friday sentenced the son of slain Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. to life imprisonment for possession of illegal drugs.
In a 23-page decision, Presiding Judge Nadine Jessica Corazon Fama of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 79 found Reynaldo Parojinog, Jr. guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Section 11, Article 2 of Republic Act 9165.
Aside from life imprisonment, Parohinog Jr. was also ordered to pay a fine of P500,000.
Reynaldo Jr. was arrested with his sister, Ozamiz Vice Mayor Princess Nova Parojinog, in a bloody police operation where authorities discovered shabu, P1.4 million cash, and several firearms in their residences in 2017.
The elder Parojinog, his wife and 13 others were killed in the raid that led to a firefight.
In the ruling, the court said the prosecutor established all the “elements for illegal possession of dangerous drugs’’.
With the positive and straight-forward testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, the court said it was proven that on June 30, 2017 SPO3 Jeffrey Candungog of the Ozamiz City Police Force enforced a search warrant at the house of the accused in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Ozamiz City, Misamis Oriental.
The search warrant was issued by Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
The search was conducted in the presence of Parojinog Jr.’s wife and daughter, media personality Jimmy Lirasan, SPO4 Jonathan Jornadal and Barangay Ramil Dumanjug.
The raiding team found a black sling bag containing one large heat-sealed plastic sachet with white crystalline substance, one plastic candy box containing 12 small plastic sachets of white crystalline substance and three small plastic sachets with traces of white crystalline substance, one light blue plastic box with several pieces of fold and rolled aluminum foils, a pair of tongs and a pair of scissors inside a wooden cabinet used as television stand on the second floor of the house.
“It must be emphasized that the finding of illegal drugs and paraphernalia in a house or building owned or occupied by a particular person raises the presumption of knowledge and possession thereof which standing alone is sufficient to convict,’’ the court noted in its judgment.
“Noteworthy, the legal teaching in our jurisprudence is that the integrity of the evidence is presumed to have been preserved unless there is a showing of bad faith, ill will or proof that the evidence had been tampered with,’’ the decision added.
The court noted the defense failed to establish the evidence were tampered with, noting that undoubtedly the dangerous drugs presented during the trial were the ones which were in the possession of the accused on July 30, 2017.
To recall Parojinog Jr., his sister Nova Princess and several others in the Parojinog residence were arrested by the police led by Ozamiz police head Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido while serving the search warrants for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
Authorities claimed the ensuing firefight led to the deaths of the elder Parojinog, his wife, Susan, and 14 others.
However, Nova Princess insisted the raid was illegal accusing authorities of planting the evidence against them after the President linked the Parojinog family to the illegal drug trade.
Nova Princess is also facing a separate case before the same court for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and possession of dangerous drugs.
Both Reynaldo and Nova princess were arrested in their respective homes during operations conducted on July 2017 by the police serving the search warrants.
“This case shows again the resolve of the DoJ to prosecute all drug lords, whether entrenched crime families or small time peddlers,’’ said Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, one of the prosecutors who handled the case. (Chito A. Chavez)