Man cleared of drug raps

Certain lapses in the police implementation of a search warrant prompted Regional Trial Court judge Fortunato de Gracia Jr. to reverse his earlier decision and clear a man of the charge of possession of at least 200 grams of shabu.

In his 15-page amended decision, De Gracia acquitted Renato Bacalan after defense witnesses later testified and established that the policemen "failed to determine with particularity the premises of the accused", and "searched the wrong room."

De Gracia also said the police failed in identifying the subject of the raid, and "initially arrested and handcuffed the wrong person clearly mistaking him for the accused."

Bacalan was the subject of the warrant, issued by judge Soliver Peras, when the police raided the house of a certain Willa Calumba in barangay Sambag I on December 19, 2001.

But the raiding team wrongly entered the room occupied by Calumba and her family but it was here that 22 packets of shabu, weighing 223.82 grams, were allegedly found. Bacalan and his wife Elvira were living in one of the six rooms of the second floor of Calumba's house.

Calumba denied possession of the found packets of shabu but the police handcuffed Dante Ozoa, another man inside the house who they apparently mistook as Bacalan.

Bacalan testified he was sleeping in his room upstairs when the police arrived and ordered all people upstairs to go down. He said he went down but saw the handcuffed Ozoa who was later freed after the police realized he was not Bacalan.

Bacalan was subsequently arrested and took his P8,000 cash and a cell phone. But he accused a policeman of "planting" the evidence inside the room of Calumba, although this was not established.

On November 9, De Gracia promulgated the decision dated October 20, 2004 convicting Bacalan. But on November 24, Bacalan filed a motion for reconsideration citing that the court "overlooked certain facts or circumstances of weight, influence and significance, which if considered, would alter the outcome of the case."

After granting the motion and more defense witnesses clearing Bacalan, De Gracia found it questionable for the police to arrest the wrong man and entered the wrong room, as intended in the search warrant.

"These particular occurrences gave serious significance to the claim that indeed the incriminating substance was 'found' in the wrong room," said De Gracia in acquitting Bacalan of the charges.