Drug raps vs. man dismissed

For failure of the police to establish the chain of custody of evidence, the Regional Trial Court dismissed a drug case filed against a man for alleged possession of shabu.

Judge Meinrado Paredes of RTC Branch 13 cleared from drug charges one Marlon Gabucan after the arresting officer failed to establish the chain of custody of the seized packet of shabu from the time Gabucan was arrested until a formal complaint was filed against him.

Likewise, the court said that the testimony of the arresting officer, SPO1 Williard Selebio, had contradicted the evidence on record.

Morning on September 28, 2004, Selebio went to the Sun Valley Subdivision to conduct surveillance on people allegedly selling illegal drugs. However, no particular person was made subject of the surveillance.

During the operation, Selebio said that he saw a man standing near a store and was reportedly looking at him. After about 15 minutes, the man reportedly ran away, prompting Selebio to run after him. While running, the man allegedly threw something on the ground that Selebio later reportedly discovered to be a packet of shabu. He subsequently arrested the man whom he identified as Gabucan.

But while these information was what his testimony contained, Selebio’s affidavit said otherwise. In the document, the policeman did not mention any shabu or that Gabucan was looking at him for 15 minutes and that the accused was standing near a store.

On January 4, 2006 before the pre-trial of the case, the court directed the prosecutor to reassess the prosecution’s evidence to determine whether or not it can secure the conviction of the accused.

Accordingly, a Report on Case Review was filed on January 13, 2006 that the court said had shown that there was no probable cause for affecting a warrantless arrest.

Judge Meinrado Paredes also said that the stop-and-frisk rule could not be applied in the situation because the accused was not acting suspiciously before he was arrested. — Joeberth M. Ocao/QSB