High court reverses RTC ruling; Clears man of drug charges

CEBU, Philippines - The Supreme Court has reversed a ruling of the Regional Trial Court that convicted a man for allegedly selling drugs arrested eight years ago.

The Supreme Court said the policemen that implemented the search warrant on the house of accused Reynaldo Nacua left “without recovering the money and without the presence of the accused or other “disinterested witnesses,” two important elements in conducting the search.

The policemen who testified before the lower court admitted they seized a sachet of shabu worth P200 from Nacua’s house on September 21, 2005 and presented it before the court as evidence of a test-buy operation.

PO3 Cirilo Luague and PO1 Julius Aniñon told the lower court that they conducted surveillance on Nacua’s house on August 26, 2005 after receiving information from a police asset regarding Nacua’s alleged illegal drug trade. The test-buy was conducted subsequently on September 2, 2005 during which the policemen allegedly received a sachet of shabu from Nacua. The shabu was reportedly submitted to the Crime Laboratory for examination. 

On September, Police Insp. Renero Agustin Sr. applied for a search warrant against Nacua and his wife, which was implemented on September 21, 2005. During the search, police found  drugs paraphernalia and shabu weighing 0.17 grams.

Nacua claimed he was a jai-alai coordinator but denied selling shabu.

Despite his denial, however, the RTC found him guilty of the crime charged. The Court of Appeals also denied his appeal.

But the Supreme Court ruled otherwise, saying the buy bust money and the presence of the accused and disinterested witnesses were requirements that the police should have complied with.

“In this case, there was a total disregard of the requirements of law and jurisprudence. With reasonable doubt as to the authenticity of the corpus delicti, the acquittal of accused-appellant of the crime charged is in order,” said Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro.

“While the court allows for relaxation of the rules in some cases, there must be compelling and justifiable grounds for the same and it must be shown that the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized items have been properly preserved. However, such conditions are not resent in the instant case,” De Castro’s decision reads further.

De Castro then ordered the director of the Brueau of Correction to immediately release Nacua from detention. — (FREEMAN)