Court officer to look into loss of some evidences

An officer of the Regional Trial Courts in Cebu said he would look into the reported loss of some evidences submitted by prosecutors, and in custody of the courts for hearings of cases. RTC clerk of courts Jeoffrey Joaquino admitted ignorance on whether evidence custodians of various court branches have complied with the rules of disposing evidences when no longer needed or when a case, needing such, is already resolved.

Reports have it that some judges failed to include in their decision instructions on how to dispose of utilized evidences - particularly firearms or other deadly weapons, and drugs. As a result, these custodians would just keep the unneeded evidence at their cabinets, which are obviously unsecured from possible tampering.

In Manila, the Supreme Court learned that some of the guns used as evidences were stolen from the cabinet of the evidence custodian, and without chance of recovery.

There were instances when an accused go into a plea bargaining before a case is heard prompting the court to do away with the presentation of evidences against the accused. The evidence seized from the accused sometimes gets lost in the process.

Only this month, the RTC convicted a woman for illegal possession of firearms, but the judge failed to specify in his order how to dispose the three .45-caliber pistols previously seized from her. The FREEMAN had gone through the documents of the case but there were no notation that would indicate that the policemen who arrested the woman had submitted the seized guns to the prosecutor's office, as evidences of the case filed.

The usual procedure, a court staff said, is that the arresting authority should turn over the seized evidence to the prosecutor's evidence custodian, and attach to the case folder a copy of the evidence receipt. When asked about this, evidence custodian Flor Mamalias also promised to look into the matter. She said she could not dispose easily the more than 1,000 assorted firearms under her custody because she does not know the status of the cases involved.

The rule is when a case is resolved at the prosecutor's level or in court, the seized evidence should be turned over to the designated government agency. Guns must be turned over to the PNP Firearms and Explosives Division, and illegal drugs to the National Bureau of Investigation.

Some policemen have said these seized guns could be used better if included in the list of government-owned guns, then issued to policemen needing them. This process would solve the lack of firearms of policemen, they said. - Rene U. Borromeo