Young Baguio shabu dealer gets life sentence

May 28, 2022 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY — John Anthony Rosal, now 30, was caught in October 2020 under a wooden bed inside a house he barged into while fleeing from NBI and PDEA agents out to catch him for dealing 18.02 grams (P122,000.00 worth) of shabu, has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Baguio Regional Trial Court Judge Rufus Malecdan also ordered him to pay a fine of P500,000 and undergo a year of drug use rehabilitation.
“We came to know he was already indicted here for selling more than 9 years ago when he was still 21,” remarked the lawyer
Cesar Bacani, NBI-Cordillera regional director.
That memory seemed still fresh on that near dusk on October 1, 2020, admitted NBICAR Special Investigator III Nielbert Pisec, who led the joint NBI-PDEA agents in catching Rosal.
“After receiving the boodle money and handing over the shabu to the informant, I tried to grab him with his jacket but he sped away (on his motorcycle),” he narrated.
Rosal sped to a slippery downhill and dimly lit Wagner road abandoned his two-wheeled vehicle and jacket at least 50 meters away from where he sold the shabu, barged into a house, and hid under a wooden bed.
Seconds later, the swarm of NBI and PDEA agents tipped off by a boy who saw the fleeing Rosal, found him at his temporary refuge.
Days before his arrest, covert intelligence operations including a test buy were launched against Rosal to fully develop an air-tight case, an NBI-CAR Intelligence Officer said.
“The conviction is yet another success of the government’s fight against illegal drugs,” stressed Atty. Bacani as he praised the Court, the government prosecution panel, and persistent NBI operatives for Rosal’s successful prosecution. He also vowed his Bureau will continue its momentum in running after illegal activities in the interest of justice.
Artemio A. Dumlao/ABN