Leodegreco Sanchez (left) son of former vice governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr. is brought to the Palace of Justice with co-accused Edward Teves, following their arrest in a house in barangay Mabolo, Cebu City in this April 15, 2013 file photo.
The detained son of the late Cebu vice governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr. will be let out in four months from a government drug rehabilitation center, whether he has kicked his drug habit or not.
The court ordered the release of Leodegreco “Greco” Sanchez from the Department of Health’s New Horizon Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Argao town by October 10, 2015.
Judge Macaundas Hadjirasul of the Regional Trial Court Branch 8 in Cebu City said the duration of a compulsory drug confinement and rehabilitation is two years at the most.
READ: Greco wants new life outside rehab center | Gigi says her brother needs to stay in rehab center longer
“This court cannot compel the subject to undergo, without his consent, confinement for drug treatment and rehabilitation for more than two years from the date of his confinement, whether or not he is rehabilitated,” he said.
After his release, Greco has to appear in court to face charges for possession of illegal drugs.
Greco was arrested in April 2013 with a friend Edward Teves after both were allegedly caught using shabu in a house in barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Greco was committed to the drug rehabilitation center on Oct. 10, 2013 at the request of his sister, Provincial Board Member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero, who said her brother had been a drug dependent since his teens and had been confined in rehabilitation centers in 18 separate occasions.
After about a year in the Argao center, Dr. David Baron, the center’s chief, reported that Greco refused to submit himself to the rehabilitation program. The court granted Baron’s request to extend Greco’s stay.
On Feb 13, 2015, Greco, through his counsel, filed a motion to be discharged from confinement, saying he wanted to start a new life with all traces of shabu cleared from his system.
Greco said he wanted to resume his functions as vice president of the family’s Lacto Bacillus Pafi Techno Resources Corp.
Under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, confinement in a center for treatment and drug rehabilitation shall not exceed one year afterwhich the center’s head will submit to the court a status report of the drug dependent and determine whether further confinement is needed.
Judge Hadjirasul, who presides over a special court handling drug cases, said the court may order the further confinement of the drug dependent if it will be for the good of the subject as well as his family, and the community.
However, he said the law did not cite a definite period for “further confinement” of a drug dependent.
“In view of the failure of the law to explicitly fix a maximum period for further confinement after the expiration of the original one-year period, the maximum period of such further confinement cannot be longer than the original one-year period,” Hadjirasul explained.
Unless Greco wants to extend his stay at the center, the judge said he could not compel him to undergo further drug treatment there.
While waiting for his release, Greco will be allowed to have private consultations with his lawyer Jonah John Ungab, subject to reasonable regulations and security measures of the center.
Greco was released two years ago after posting bail but failed to attend court hearings, prompting the judge to issue a bench warrant against him.
Greco was arrested for the second time in Nueva Ecija in November 2013.
His sister said her younger brother had been harassing their mother and other family members, by pressing them for money to buy drugs. Greco’s two minor children are in her custody.
“My brother is sick. He has been a drug dependent for 25 years. After our father died, he obtained an inheritance which he squandered in two years,” she said in a previous interview.
“He is still my brother. We still care for him. (But) he has to fix his life. He has to find himself,” she said.
Greco, in his court pleading, said his sister wanted him out of the way so that he can’t assume his post in their company.