A total of 469 drug-related cases were filed in court from January to April this year in Cebu City.
Of this number, 73 cases were for selling illegal drugs, 251 for possession of illegal drugs and 145 for possession of illegal drug paraphernalia.
The figures were reported by Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella in yesterday’s meeting of the Peace Coordinating and Advisory Council (PCAC) in barangay Tisa.
Labella commended the police, barangay officials, National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for their efforts.
“You can conclude that from the period January to April, there is really a big number of drug criminals caught in the act. Eighty percent of these cases were filed by the police, 10 percent by the NBI, and 10 percent by barangay officials in collaboration with PDEA,” said Labella, who is chairman of PCAC.
However, Labella reminded law enforcers to observe proper procedures in conducting drug operation to prevent cases from being dismissed later in court because of technicalities.
One of the common reasons a drug case is dismissed in court, he said, is noncompliance of the requirement for an inventory of seized illegal drugs to be conducted in the presence of an elected barangay official, a representative of the Department of Justice and a media practitioner.
“That’s why most of the cases that get dismissed are due to a technicality. Because if one of the three personalities are not there for the inventory submitted to the judge, the case gets dismissed,” said Labella.
Labella said national legislators should look into amending this requirement in Republic Act 9165 also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
“The requirement should not be cumulative. If only one personality is present, the prosecution of the case should proceed. We shouldn’t require all three because it’s difficult to convene the three of them,” Labella said.
Close to P10 million worth of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia were seized.
Last May 9, a buy-bust operation in Talisay City resulted in the arrest of a female drug courier where P4.7 million of illegal drugs were seized./Xavier University InternPearl Therese S. Aton
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