MOST of the cases filed for inquest proceedings in Davao region involve illegal drugs, a regional prosecutor said.
National Prosecution Office Davao Regional Prosecutor Janet Grace B. Dalisay-Fabrero said in an interview with Sunstar Davao Tuesday, February 12, that many drug cases were filed in court due to strong campaign by the
authorities against illegal drugs in 2018.
“Majority of the drug cases, which comprises 1,883, they were not filed for preliminary investigation, they were filed through inquest, yung mga accused o respondent nahuli,” Fabrero said.
She said there were only 48 illegal drugs cases that were filed under preliminary investigation.
She added illegal gambling is the second highest number of cases filed through inquest proceeding with 1,072 cases.
“Other offenses” which include smoking, anti-photo and video voyeurism, city ordinance violation, SSS Law violation, falsification of public documents were third with 1,026 cases.
Meanwhile, under preliminary investigation, “other offenses” has the highest number of cases with 3,679 followed by economic crimes such as estafa with 745 cases and check without sufficient funds (BP22) with 745 cases. Theft is fourth with 614 cases.
Preliminary investigation is a 60-to-90-day proceedings conducted to determine if there is a probable cause for the case while inquest proceedings are done when the suspect was arrested without a warrant.