DEU personnel brush up on how to build, strengthen cases against drug suspects

Chief Insp. Jacinto Mandal of the Carbon Police Precinct leads the Oplan Tokhang team in visiting houses of drug personalities in Barangay Ermita as a kick off of the third edition of the operation to convince drug personalities to stop their illegal activities.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON

The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is sharpening another aspect of its anti-illegal drug campaign with the retraining of all personnel of its Drug Enforcement Units (DEUs), focusing on ensuring the conviction of the arrested drug suspects.

Senior Supt. Royina Garma, CCPO director, said that the 50 DEU personnel had undergone a one-day refresher course last Friday (Aug. 31) on strengthening their cases against drug suspects that they had arrested.

“It’s additional na input sa kaalaman ng ating mga pulis because we are thinking of how to strengthen the possible cases sa mga dinakpan nato (It’s an additional input to our personnel’s knowledge because we are thinking of how to strengthen the possible cases against the arrested drug suspects),” said Garma.

Garma, who was one of the resource speakers of the retraining course, said that among the topics discussed and explained to the participants were the different provisions of the the amended Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 or Republic Act No. 9165 where police could arrest those involved in illegal drugs but not only limited to selling, maintaining drug dens or buy-bust operations.

Garma said that they also discussed how to build a case against so-called middlemen in the illegal drug trade.

“Not only limited to these but also administering, transporting, trading. (Those were) tinuturo sa amin how to identify and how to build a case base sa mga activities of those involved in illegal drugs,” Garma added.

Aside from Garma and other CCPO officials, Lawyer Clarence Paul Oaminal, former secretary of Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), was the main resource speaker for the one-day refresher course.
In a separate interview, Oaminal said that he helped in explaining the provisions under the anti-illegal drugs law or RA 9165.

“Daghang drug cases ma dismissed kay ma misinterpret ang law (Many drug cases were dismissed because the law is misinterpreted),” said Oaminal.

Oaminal cited scenarios which included a judge junking a case against a drug suspect because the police conducted the inventory of the confiscated illegal drugs outside the police station.

Garma said that with the DEU personnel’s retraining she hoped that this would help the increase the conviction of drug suspects arrested in their intensified campaign against illegal drugs.