EDITORIAL -‘Reprehensible’ lapses

Agencies involved in the campaign against illegal drugs, prosecutors and trial court judges must study carefully a Supreme Court ruling that tossed out a case involving what was touted as one of the biggest drug hauls in the country. Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo himself penned the decision, released on June 29, which chastised the police, prosecutors and the lower courts for their “reprehensible” handling of the case.

The case involved 119,080 kilos of shabu plus another 9.38 kilos delivered to undercover cops, and 111.20 kilos of chloromethamphetamine hydrochloride. The drugs, valued at P1 billion, were seized in two raids in Valenzuela on Nov. 10 and 11, 2003, wherein five Chinese and a Filipino were arrested.

Four of the Chinese were cleared by the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court for insufficiency of evidence. Accused ringleader William Gan was convicted, but only for drug possession. He was sentenced to 12 to 14 years in prison and fined P300,000. Only Filipino driver Robert Uy was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison and ordered to pay a fine of P10 million.

On appeal, Uy argued that the police conducting the drug sting had instigated him to drive a vehicle they themselves provided, and that the drugs were placed in the vehicle by the cops themselves. But the Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction. The case was then elevated to the Supreme Court, which cleared Uy along with Gan on ground of reasonable doubt.

The SC said it was “truly regrettable” that the convictions had to be overturned. But it said the case violated provisions of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act or Republic Act 9165 as amended by RA 10640 and the implementing rules and regulations for conducting a drug bust and handling of evidence.

Specifically, the police violated Section 21 of RA 9165, which requires three witnesses when conducting a physical inventory of seized drugs: a representative from the media and the Department of Justice plus any elected public official. There were no such witnesses in the case. The rules on taking photographs of the seized items were also not met.

It was not the first such acquittal by the SC. In October 2018, the high tribunal had invoked the same lapses when it cleared small-scale drug dealer Romy Lim. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested Lim on Oct. 19, 2010 on charges of possessing .02 grams of shabu.

Both the PDEA and police have lost bigger drug cases because of failure to comply with the laws and rules on the conduct of arrests, searches and seizures as well as evidence handling. The two agencies must ensure that their members are fully aware of the law, or their efforts will simply go to waste and drug traffickers will go scot-free.