Juanito Jose D. Remulla III, eldest son of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla, was acquitted of the charge of possession of illegal drugs by the Las Pinas City regional trial court (RTC).
The judgment of acquittal was handed down on Friday, Jan. 6, by Judge Ricardo a. Moldez II of RTC Branch 197.
“WHEREFORE premises considered, accused Juanito Jose Remulla III y Diaz is ACQUITTED of the crime of violation of Section 11, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165 (the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002), on the ground of reasonable doubt,” Judge Moldez said in his 34-page decision.
Juanito was arrested on Oct. 11, 2022 by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at his home in Las Pinas City after accepting a package containing two bags of marijuana with a total weight of 893.91 grams that was sent by a certain Benjamin Huffman from the United States.
“After an assiduous review of the evidence of the parties in this case, there is reasonable doubt that accused (Juanito) received and possessed the parcel delivered to him with the knowledge, consciousness, and awareness that said parcel contained the alleged two bags of marijuana,” Judge Moldez said.
The judge said that the prosecution must establish three elements to secure conviction, one of which is that “the accused freely and consciously possessed the said drug.”
“The testimonies of the prosecution’s witnesses themselves failed to clearly prove the existence of animus possidendi (intent to possess) on the part of the accused,” Moldez said.
Pointed out in the decision were the testimonies of two PDEA agents, one of them Intelligence Officer 1 (IO1) Eduardo Bongao, who posed as a deliveryman during the entrapment operation.
During the trial, Bongao recounted that when he made the controlled delivery, he told Juanito that there was a package for him.
“Ang reply nya po ma’am, ‘wala akong inaasahang parcel, padala’ ma’am (His reply was ‘I am not expecting any parcel’),” Bongao said.
Bongao said he also asked Juanito during the handing of the package if he knew Benjamin Huffman but the accused replied: “Hindi ko kilala yan pero kung nakapangalan sa akin kunin ko na (I don’t know him but if the package has my name on it, I might as well accept it).”
Intelligence Officer Clint Mek-Eng, who was beside Bongao when the package was handed over, confirmed what Juanito said.
“Unfortunately, apart from showing that the package or parcel was handed to the accused, the prosecution did not present other evidence to show that the former knew that it contained marijuana. The prosecution failed to show that accused, by receiving the parcel, knew that he was also possessing illegal drugs,” Moldez stressed.
The decision noted that the PDEA operation was a controlled delivery which means “the consignment of any dangerous drug is detected and the law enforcers knowingly allow the package to travel its destination or to the address of the consignee in order to establish, among others, the person or person involved in the commission of the offense.”
“Nonetheless, regardless of the stage of the controlled delivery, the law enforcers are still strictly required to ensure that the integrity and the evidentiary value of the detected or seized items are preserved and the proper chain of custody is observed,” it said.
Judge Moldez noted that “it can be reasonably inferred that as early as 28 September 2022, the Customs Anti-Illegal Drug Task Force (CAIDTF) already had possession over the parcel allegedly containing marijuana or, at the very least, was aware of its existence.”
He said the court has “serious reservations on the integrity and evidentiary value of the dangerous drugs allegedly seized.”
“Evidently, there was no testimony or other proof how the evidentiary value of the parcel and its contents were preserved from 04 October 2022 until it was turned-over to the PDEA on 10 October 2022. The prosecution failed to establish that during the ‘detection stage’ or before the parcel allegedly containing the illegal drugs were turned-over to the PDEA that precautions were taken to ensure that there had been no change in the condition of the parcel and its contents and that there was no opportunity for someone not in the chain to have possession of the same during the period. Because of these, this Court is unable to discount the possibility of evidence tampering on that occasion,” he stressed.
The decision also stated:
“Moreover, records are again devoid of any details regarding the custody of the dangerous drugs from the time it was turned-over to the laboratory up to its presentation in court.
“The Chain of Custody Form made on 11 October 2022 shows that Agent Bongao turned-over the recovered evidence to Chemist Richard Angelo Solis for qualitative and quantitative examination. After testing the representative samples, the recovered evidence was apparently turned-over to evidence custodian, Magella Munaste, and was only retrieved during the hearings of this case.
“Unfortunately, apart from the testimony of Solis, no documentary evidence was offered to prove the transfer of custody to Megella Munaste. Worse, the prosecution did not present Magella Munaste to testify on this matter and to show how the allegedly seized dangerous drugs were handled in the interim -- from the time it was turned-over to her and its presentation in court.
“There was no information on how the seized illegal drug was stored after it was examined by the forensic chemist, who handled the specimen after the examination, and where the same was kept until it was retrieved and presented in court. Once again, the chain of custody has been compromised.
“It is settled that in criminal proceedings involving illegal drugs, the presentation of the drugs which constitute the corpus delicti of the crime calls for the necessity of providing with moral certainty that they are the same seized item.
“The prosecution must establish that the drugs presented in court as evidence are the exact same drugs seized from the accused and examined by the crime laboratory.
“This is not merely a matter of procedural formalities, but is a matter rooted in the very core of the crime’s commission.
“When a court cannot be assured that the drugs presented as evidence are exactly what the prosecution purports them to be, a conviction will not be forthcoming.”
Despite his acquittal in the possession of illegal drugs charges, Juanito is still facing an importation of illegal drugs complaint before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office over the same 893.91 grams of marijuana.
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