Veggie trader gets life term for selling shabu

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- A driver, who is also a vegetable trader at the Trading Post here, was convicted to life imprisonment Feb. 22 by the Regional Trial Court for shabu-related drug law violations.

This, nearly eight years and five months after the convict’s initial arrest for the offenses, said a press statement released by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Cordillera regional office.

Archer “Archie” T. Calsi, alias , was found guilty for selling shabu and also fined half a million pesos.

He was further penalized with 12 years and one day to 14 years and eight months term, and fined P300,000 for possession of shabu.

Court records said Calsi was a shabu distributor to drivers and vegetable traders at the Vegetable Trading Post in La Trinidad.

Calsi, then 30 years old, married, college undergraduate, native and resident of Camp Dangwa, La Trinidad, sold a sachet of .2 gram shabu to a PDEA agent who posed as a bus conductor using shabu, in an evening buy-bust operation on Sept. 29, 2003 along the Halsema Highway, about 500 meters away from the main gate of Camp Dangwa, the regional police office.

During his apprehension, the convict yielded seven more sachets of shabu weighing of 1.40 grams.

Calsi was detained after his capture, but was released on Dec 23, 2003, by virtue of a resolution dated Dec. 16, 2003 issued by Prosecutor I Raymond P. Botengan, dismissing the charge, finding lack of prima facie evidence.

However, on January 23, 2004, Provincial Prosecutor Felix T. Cabading, issued another resolution that recalled and set aside the earlier released resolution and formally accused Calsi of violating Sections 5 and 11 of the new drug law.

Despite the issuance on Feb. 18, 2004 of warrants for his arrest, the accused was nabbed only on Jan. 20, 2007 at Belance, Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya.

His counsel was reportedly a known defense attorney of drug offenders in Baguio City.

Calsi mentioned under oath that his wife’s family lived at the Crystal Cave area in Baguio City and that his mother-in-law owned a store there.

Crystal Cave had been identified as one of the major drug-affected areas in the city by the PDEA.

Meanwhile, the RTC ruled “the sachets containing the methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) are forfeited in favor of the government and to be turned over to the PDEA for proper disposition”.

The press statement said the arrest and conviction of Calsi was a result of the regional campaign plan “Amihan” 2012 of the PDEA Cordillera Administrative Region under Director Gil Cesario P. Castro.

“We are ensuring the putting behind bars and conviction of drug personalities, through well-planned operations, completeness of supporting documents, readiness of our witnesses and prioritization of court duties,” Castro said.