SC acquits drug convict due to mishandled evidence

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has acquitted an alleged drug dealer found guilty by a trial court for selling shabu in 2004 due to the mishandling of evidence by authorities.

In a decision released earlier this week, the SC’s Third Division granted the petition of accused-appellant Jovi Pornillos questioning his earlier conviction for violation of Section 5, Article II of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).

It reversed the verdict handed down by the Iriga City Regional Trial Court Branch 35, which was upheld by the Court of Appeals (CA) in November 2010.

Contrary to findings of the RTC and the CA, the high tribunal ruled that there was reasonable doubt in the guilt of the accused due to the discrepancy in evidence presented by prosecution during the trial.

“The court orders his immediate release from custody unless he is being held for some other lawful cause and orders the director of the Bureau of Corrections to immediately implement this decision and to inform the court within five days from its receipt of the date appellant was actually released from confinement,” read the ruling penned by Associate Justice Roberto Abad.

Records showed that Pornillos was arrested on May 14, 2004 in a police buy-bust operation. He was caught in the act of selling shabu to a poseur buyer.

It was, however, found that the content of the seized sachet of shabu was inventoried at 0.4 gram but yielded only 0.2204 gram during the laboratory test, falling short by 0.1796 gram.

According to the SC, the loss was not that small. “It suffered a loss of 45 percent or nearly half of the original weight,” the SC said.

The prosecution has three theories: only two chemists served the entire region giving rise to possible error; the police and the crime laboratory used different weighing scales; and the failure of the laboratory to take into account the weight of the sachet container.

But the SC opined that “these are mere speculations since none of those involved was willing to admit having committed weighing error.”

“Speculations cannot overcome the concrete evidence that what was seized was not what was forensically tested. This implies tampering with the prosecution evidence. The (SC) cannot affirm the conviction of Pornillos on compromised evidence,” it added.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Diosdao Peralta, Bienvenido Reyes and Marvic Leonen.