Friday, February 15, 2008
Judge: Probe cops tampering with drug evidence
EXECUTIVE Judge Fortunato de Gracia of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cebu wants authorities to look into reports of policemen tampering with evidence collected in drug cases by adding alum to shabu to increase its weight.
He revealed that in five cases, shabu submitted by the Cebu City Police Office as evidence in their cases end up weighing less after quantitative analysis at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) forensic laboratory.
But if an investigation is to be launched, the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas will not be at the forefront.
“If there are complainants, we will probably refer it to the police or the NBI. Anyway, they are the agencies who have the capability to handle such investigations,” Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol said in an interview.
Apostol, however, said the anti-graft office will receive complaints in case somebody does surface to file a formal complaint.
The actual weight of the evidence in a drug case is crucial in determining the severity of the sentence to be imposed on a person if he gets convicted.
Bail
The weight of the evidence also determines whether the respondent in a drug case can post bail while awaiting trial.
“So far we have five recorded incidents. In these cases, the lawyers petitioned the court to order a quantitative analysis and when the results came out, it revealed that the shabu submitted as evidence was worth far less than what the police had reported,” de Gracia said.
In one incident, he said, the evidence submitted by the police weighed over 50 grams but, upon NBI analysis, the actual volume weighed less than a gram.
“But by that time, the person charged had already spent six years in jail,” he lamented.
Asked if it weren’t possible that the persons arrested and charged were the ones who added alum to the shabu and that the police simply submitted the evidence they recovered, de Gracia said “not likely.”
‘More likely’
“If the drug dealers place alum on their product, they won’t last two days in the streets,” he said, adding that the police is the “more likely” culprit.
“There have been instances where cases were dismissed after it was proven that the policeman who filed it made up the charge,” he said.
In one case, he said, a group of policemen issued an affidavit saying they arrested a man in possession of shabu. The arrest was made without warrant because the police saw the man checking his newly obtained pack of drugs by raising it against the sun and flicking the plastic pack with his finger. This was done in broad daylight.
“Do you think this could happen in real life?” he said.
He said agencies like the anti-graft office don’t double check the police’s allegations, thinking that the drug problem could be defeated if the police is given enough latitude. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 15, 2008 issue)
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