The Court of Appeals has acquitted the “Alabang Boys.” from drug trafficking charges, sustaining an earlier decision of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court, reports said.
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| ALL FREE: Jorge Joseph, Joseph Tecson and Richard Brodett in 2009. |
Remember the infamous "Alabang Boys?" These are the good-looking rich boys who were busted in a PDEA drug sting inside the posh Ayala-Alabang Village while in possession of ecstasy tablets, sachets of cocaine and dried marijuana leaves.
According to news reports, the CA has sustained the decision of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court dismissing the drug charges against Richard Brodett and Jorge Joseph, members of the “Alabang Boys.”
In a 23-page decision penned by Associate Justice Leoncia Real-Dimagiba, the CA’s Special Fourth Division denied the petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General seeking the reversal of the Muntinlupa RTC decision issued on August 26, 2011.
The RTC acquitted respondents Richard Brodett and Jorge Joseph of the drug charges due to the failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Judget Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204, ruled that the failure of the prosecution to establish all links in the chain of custody of evidence seized from the suspects in a buy-bust operation conducted last Sept. 19, 2008 inside the posh Ayala-Alabang Village was fatal to the case.
“While there may be instances when a reconsideration after an acquittal may be possible, this is upon very exceptional and narrow grounds as when the Court gravely abused its discretion resulting in loss of jurisdiction, or when a mistrial has occurred in which case the State may assail the decision by certiorari,” the CA said.
“But this is not the case at bar as we see no grave abuse of discretion on the court in acquitting the private respondents as earlier discussed, and no mistrial occured in this case.”
Associate Justices Amelita Tolentino and Danton Bueser concurred with the ruling.
PDEA agents arrested Brodett and Joseph inside Ayala Alabang Village on the evening of September 19 during an entrapment operation.
A search of Brodett’s car yielded ecstasy tablets, sachets of cocaine and dried marijuana leaves, the agency claimed.
The third member of the group, Joseph Tecson, was apprehended by anti-drug operatives on the same date in Quezon City.
His case was separately tried by Branch 227 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
Tecson was acquitted in 2012 on the ground that the prosecution “failed to establish that the pieces of evidence presented in court are the very same pieces of evidence recovered from the accused.”--Source: Manila Standard Today