Ensure presence of mandatory witnesses in

drug busts: SC
By Benjamin Pulta March 10, 2022, 4:13 pm
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MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) is reminding law enforcers to ensure the presence of all
mandatory witnesses required under the law during the inventory of seized prohibited drugs from
suspects.

This as the SC reversed the conviction of a man on drug charges by the lower court due to a
technicality.

In a five-page resolution dated Dec. 7, 2021 and published on the SC website on Thursday, the
court’s first division reversed the Court of Appeals (CA) and the Bacolod City Regional Trial Court
(RTC) Branch 52's decision and acquitted Bienvenido Chavez Jr.

The court noted that in the certificate of inventory of seized items in Chavez's case, it was clear that
“one of the mandatory witnesses-the DOJ (Department of Justice) representative -- was not present
in the inventory”.
In acquitting the accused, the SC said that while the CA excused the absence as the presence of the
additional elective official supposedly sufficed to fill the gap, the CA’s ruling “is neither supported by
the letter of the law nor by jurisprudence”.

Chavez was arrested in a drug bust on June 30, 2009, in Bacolod City with 13 grams of shabu which
he sold to an undercover law enforcer. The CA denied Chavez's appeal of his conviction by the RTC
sentencing him to life imprisonment and a fine of PHP800,000.

“More importantly, the apprehending officers did not even try to offer an explanation as to why there
was no member of the DOJ present during the inventory of the seized items,” the court said.

Section 21, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 provides that the seized
items in drug operations must be inventoried and photographed immediately after seizure or
confiscation and done in the presence of the accused or his/her representative or counsel, an
elected official, a representative from the media and a representative from the DOJ, "all of whom
shall be required to sign the copies of the inventory and be given a copy of the same and the seized
drugs must be turned over to a forensic laboratory within 24 hours from confiscation for
examination."

"The Court has repeatedly stressed that the presence of all the third-party witnesses at the time of
the inventory and photography is mandatory and the law imposes said requirement because the
presence of said witnesses will guarantee against the planting of evidence and frame-up," the court
said.

It added that the presence of these disinterested witnesses "will insulate the apprehension and
incrimination proceedings from any taint of illegitimacy or irregularity." (PNA)