Poppy grower might get off the hook - lawyers

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet - Septuagenarian Lilia Kidpalos, an Atok town flower grower who unwittingly cultivated and sold opium poppy plants and seeds that produce illegal drugs, might yet find herself off the hook. Kidpalos, 73, could be spared from criminal liability due to her age, said legal expert and Baguio criminal lawyer Edgar Avila. Another lawyer, Tony Pawi, agreed with Avila and the former vowed to motor to Atok on Saturday to assist the septuagenarian flower grower. Authorities are set to torch the prohibited plants and possibly indict the woman. Kidpalos is facing drug charges for maintaining the 50-square-meter plantation in Kilometer 46, where some 295 fully grown and half-grown poppy plants were discovered by authorities Tuesday. But Atok Mayor Concepcion Balao defended Kidpalos. "Hindi niya alam (She doesn’t know that the plant produces drugs)," she said. The mayor vowed to help her town mate as she insisted that the old woman has no capability to engage in illegal drug trade. "We will see what we can do (to help)," the mayor said. Atok town police chief Senior Inspector Marvin Diplat said the poppy plants, some as tall as five feet, were cultivated in the vegetable plantation town of Atok, one and a half hour drive from Baguio City. The plantation lies along the national highway of the Baguio-Bontoc Road, which is also known as the Halsema Highway. The "poppy plantation" drew police attention when residents tipped them off. Samples brought to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency headquarters in Manila were tested positive for opium. But under normal circumstances, Avila said, no one can invoke "no intention" or "no knowledge" as a defense in a special law like the anti-narcotics law. But according to Pawi, "while intention is immaterial (in a special law), considering that mere possession is punishable by our Dangerous Drugs Law, intent to perpetrate is a necessary element." However, Pawi said Kidpalos could still be nailed because police discovered that her London-based sibling had shipped a package containing the opium plant. Still, the Cordillera police are studying the legal steps to take to pin the woman. Chief Inspector Paul Mencio, intelligence chief of the PDEA-CAR, had said the police are facing a rare case but insisted that the flower-grower could still be held criminally liable. Police are unsure about the market value of the seized poppies although some officers believe they will fetch about P200 per gram of 10 percent purity when the poppies are processed. Cordillera became notorious as the country’s biggest producer of marijuana because of the discovery of numerous plantations in remote villages in Benguet, Kalinga, Ifugao, and the boundaries of Benguet with Ilocos Sur and La Union provinces. - GMANews.TV