Short answer. No. Section 24 flatly bars anyone convicted of drug trafficking or pushing under the drug law from probation, regardless of the penalty the court imposed. Even where the sentence would otherwise be short enough to qualify, this specific prohibition overrides the general Probation Law for these two offences.
What the law says
Any person convicted for drug trafficking or pushing under this Act, regardless of the penalty imposed by the Court, cannot avail of the privilege granted by the Probation Law
RA 9165, Section 24 — Probation Barred For Traffickers. Read the full provision →
What Section 24 says
The provision is short and absolute. It states that any person convicted for drug trafficking or pushing under this Act, regardless of the penalty imposed by the Court, cannot avail of the privilege granted by the Probation Law. Two categories of offender are named — those convicted of trafficking and those convicted of pushing. For them, the ordinary Probation Law, the decree that lets certain first-time offenders serve their sentence under supervision instead of in prison, is simply unavailable. The words regardless of the penalty imposed are what give the bar its bite: the length of the sentence does not matter.
Why the penalty level does not matter
Under the general Probation Law, probation is a discretionary alternative open only to offenders whose sentence falls within a statutory ceiling; a heavier sentence takes probation off the table on its own. Section 24 works differently. It closes the door by reference to the nature of the offence, not the size of the penalty. So even a trafficking or pushing conviction that carried a sentence low enough to qualify under the general rule is still barred, because this section removes the court's discretion for these two crimes entirely. The result is categorical: conviction for trafficking or pushing means the sentence is served, full stop.
What the bar does not cover
Section 24 names trafficking and pushing specifically, and only those. A conviction for a different offence under the drug law is not swept in by this section — whether probation is available for it is judged against the general Probation Law, chiefly by whether the penalty imposed is within the ceiling. That distinction is why the exact offence a person was convicted of matters so much here. The label the court applied in its judgment, rather than the everyday description of what happened, decides whether this absolute bar operates or whether the ordinary eligibility rules do.
What to check in a particular case
Whether a given conviction falls within Section 24 turns on the precise terms of the judgment — which offence under the drug law the court found, and how it characterised the accused's conduct. That is not something to read off the charge sheet alone, because the offence charged and the offence of conviction are not always the same. Anyone in this position, or advising a relative who is, should have the decision itself reviewed with counsel, since the availability of any post-conviction relief depends on what the judgment actually says rather than on how the case was described along the way.