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Pinoy remains in jail despite non-custodial sentence

10 July 2025

 

Store where Prado was arrested (Google Maps photo)

A Filipino was supposed to walk free after a hearing at Eastern Court today because he was given a suspended jail sentence for drug possession and was fined for shoplifting.

But R. Prado, 49 years old and a deliveryman for restaurants, will have to remain in jail because he is facing a separate robbery charge with two others, also at Eastern Court.

Magistrate Minnie Wan sentenced him to two weeks in jail suspended for 12 months, for drug possession, which means he would not have to serve a day in jail if he keeps the peace and avoids reoffending within the next 12 months. She also fined him $800 for theft.

Basahin ang detalye!

Prado had pleaded guilty in an earlier hearing to possession of 0.06 gram of methamphethamine hydrochloride (also known as shabu or ice) last April 29 on Queen’s Road West in Sai Ying Pun, and for shoplifting eight ice cream cones and three packs of cheese sausage worth a total of $216.80 at a nearby Wellcome Supermarket on Pitt street in Sai Ying Pun, where he was arrested later that  day.

Before he was sentenced, Prado tearfully promised to Magistrate Wan that he would stay away from drugs. “No more. Hindi na po,” he said

“Remember your word today,” she advised. “It appears to me that you undersestimated the drugs’ effects. You need to quit dangerous drugs.”

His duty lawyer said Prado is not formally employed and has struggled finding a job despite having studied in college in the Philippines. His rejecting drug rehabilitation, which would prevent him from working, and the items he shoplifted indicate his need to provide for his family, he added.

"He is just someone who fell into bad habits,” he added, noting that the drug found on him was minimal.

Magistrate Wan may have been moved by his promise and his lawyer’s plea to give him a non-custodial sentence, despite noting the negative recommendations in the probation and drug reports she had ordered earlier.

Meanwhile, he remains in detention until another case resumes on Aug. 27.

Prado is charged with robbery, together with R. Malonzo, 38 years old and a bartender, and A. Arceo, 29 years old and construction worker for allegedly entering a “Green-Kennedy Town” store on Water St. in Sai Ying Pun last March 20 and stealing an iPad worth $3,999.

Acting Principal Magistrate David Cheung ordered the three returned to jail last July 2.

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