THE PHILIPPINE Supreme Court (SC) has slammed local authorities’ “reprehensible” handling of a P1-billion illegal drug case that led to the acquittal of all five Chinese suspects and a Filipino.
In a ruling dated Feb. 21 and made public on June 30, the tribunal said it had no choice but to acquit the two alleged members of a drug syndicate, reversing their conviction due to procedural blunders by law enforcers, prosecutors and a Valenzuela trial court.
“The court beseeches all actors in the administration of criminal justice in our jurisdiction to effectively carry out their respective duties and responsibilities, keeping in mind that any failure on their part will likely result in an acquittal,” according to the ruling written by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo.
It said law enforcers violated the law when they failed to have a witness from the Department of Justice (DoJ) during an inventory of the seized illegal drugs.
The tribunal ordered the Bureau of Corrections to immediately release the two suspects — Chinese national Willie Gan and Filipino Robert T. Uy — from detention. The trial court had acquitted the four other suspects — Chinese nationals Jackie Ong, Co Ching Ki, Tan Ty Siao and Go Siak Ping.
It had sentenced Mr. Gan to up to 14 years and eight months in prison, while Mr. Uy got a life term for drug trafficking and up to 14 years and eight months for illegal drug possession.
The six, who were arrested in 2003, were accused of distributing and illegally delivering more than nine kilos of crystal meth. They were also charged with illegal possession of 119 kilos of the drug and 111 kilos of chloromethamphetamine hydrochloride.
Under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, a representative from the media, Justice department and an elected public official must be present during a drug inventory.
The law was amended in 2014 to require only two witnesses to fast-track the production of evidence.
Police had also failed to take photographs of the illegal drugs seized, which is also required by law, the High Court said. “The utter disregard for the law demonstrated by these actors is reprehensible.”
The Court of Appeals affirmed the twin convictions and fined Mr. Uy P10 million as it upheld their warrantless arrest.
The appellate court said the chain of command was not broken since the arresting officers did not have enough time to secure the needed witnesses.
It said Mr. Uy could not have had actual possession of the illegal drugs seized from the warehouse since he was already in police custody, when law enforcers were taking inventory of the illegal drugs.
The tribunal also acquitted Mr. Gan, who did not appeal his conviction after prosecutors failed to prove his possession of the illegal drugs.
The High Court also questioned the trial court’s acquittal of the four other Chinese suspects based on prosecutors’ alleged failure to prove that they had bribed police officers with 10 kilos of crystal meth.
It also said the Valenzuela trial court had imposed the wrong penalty on Mr. Gan of up to 14 years in prison. Possession of illegal drugs is punishable with life imprisonment, it said.
“Truly, the acquittal in the instant case is ordained by the multiple errors, whether through negligence or misfeasance, committed by the prosecution, the defense and the trial court,” the High Court said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez