Due to lapses in law’s enforcement, SC acquits, orders release of inmate

He was arrested for selling and possessing illegal drugs in a buy-bust operation in Dagupan City in 2013 and convicted by the trial court in 2016. In 2018, the judgment of conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals (CA).

After eight years in prison, Nazroding T. Suba was acquitted by the Supreme Court (SC) in a resolution promulgated last March and made public last Sept. 9. He was ordered released from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

In a resolution that granted his appeal, the SC said the law enforcers who arrested Suba failed to follow strictly the handling and inventory of the seized illegal drugs, particularly on the law’s requirement on witnesses.

It pointed out that since the arrest was done in 2013, the law in effect was Republic Act No. 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, before its amendment.

Thus, it said, the physical inventory and photographing of the seized illegal drugs should have been done in the presence of the suspect, himself, a representative of the media, a representative of the Department of Justice (DOJ), and any elected public official.

The four-witness requirement was amended in 2014 under RA 10640 which now requires only three witnesses – the suspect, an elected public official, and representative from the national prosecution service or the media.

In the case of Suba, the SC found that the inventory and photographing of the seized illegal drugs was not witnessed by an elected public official and a representative from the media in violation of Section 21 of RA 9165.

The SC said:

“As the Court sees it, the apprehending officers did not faithfully comply with the standards set forth by law, compounded by the prosecution’s failure to justify non-compliance thereof.

“In view of the failure of the prosecution to provide a justifiable reason for the non-compliance with Section 21, Article II of RA 9165, which creates doubt as to the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized items, the Court is constrained to acquit the accused-appellant (Suba) based on reasonable doubt.

“WHEREFORE, the appeal is GRANTED. The Aug. 1, 2018 Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-GR CR-HC No.09044 is hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE. Accordingly, accused-appellant Nazroding Suba y Tawtir, aka Kapitan/Tol, is ACQUITTED of the crimes charged and ordered immediately RELEASED from custody, unless he is being held for some other lawful cause.”

In its previous decisions on illegal drugs cases, the SC said:

“We stress, the presence of the persons who should witness the post-operation measures is necessary to insulate the apprehension and incrimination proceedings from any taint of illegitimacy or irregularity.

“The insulating presence of such witnesses would have preserved an unbroken chain of custody considering that a buy-bust operation is susceptible to abuse, and the only way to prevent this is to ensure that the procedural safeguards provided by the law are strictly observed.”