Court clears couple of drug possession raps

A couple arrested by the police for reportedly keeping five packs of shabu in their house was cleared of the charges because there were no other witnesses who could prove that the illegal drugs were found there aside from the lone policeman who claimed he saw the packs of shabu.

Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge Gabriel Ingles ruled that the seizure of the five packs of shabu allegedly from the house of Dario Dayanan and wife Imelda, is irregular or at the least suspicious.

"If such kind of procedure is tolerated, there will always be room to suspect that the evidence might have been planted," Ingles said in his five-page order that dismissed the case filed against the Dayanan couple.

The couple was accused by the police of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act for keeping the five packs of shabu reportedly found by P01 Crestito Raboy on top of the dresser at the second floor of their house.

But it was learned that Raboy went upstairs alone and aside from him, there was no other person who could attest that the packs of shabu were found inside the Dayanan's house.

The witnesses said that when Raboy went upstairs, the other policemen who raided the couple's house were still searching the ground floor.

The location of the couple's house and the date of the raid were not also mentioned in the court order.

Ingles reminded policemen of the rules on criminal procedures that raiders should secure witnesses when they implement a search.

The judge said it is evident from the testimonies of the assigned searcher - P02 Percival Eborlas - that Raboy recovered the incriminating evidence at the second floor when he alone went there to check if somebody was there.

"The law enforcement officers cannot rely on the presumption of regularity in the performance of official function precisely because the irregularity is apparent," the court ruled. - Rene U. Borromeo