Man who gets life term for drugs freed after SC reverses lower court, CA ruling

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the release of a man convicted for drug possession 10 years ago as it cited inconsistencies in the testimony of the policeman who arrested him and the possibility that the evidence against him may have been planted.

Saying the constitutional right to be presumed innocent must prevail, the Court’s Second Division acquitted Jose Alex Secreto after the prosecution failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

“[When] there is gross disregard of the [procedures], serious doubt arises as to the identity of the seized item presented in court, for which reason, the prosecution cannot simply invoke the presumption of regularity in the performance of official duties to justify the omissions,” the court said in a 15-page decision dated February 22 and penned by Associate Justice Jose Perez.

Based on court records, Secreto was charged on July 11, 2003, for the sale and possession of “shabu” (metamphetamine hydrochloride) in the Caloocan Regional Trial Court. Two days earlier, he was arrested by policemen in an entrapment operation in Kaunlaran Village, Caloocan.

Secreto, according to the prosecution, tried to sell a sachet of shabu worth P100 to an undercover operative, PO2 Loreto Lagmay. After being arrested and searched, the suspect yielded another sachet of the illegal substance.

The accused, however, denied all the allegations against him, saying he was drinking soda with a friend when Lagmay and three other policemen suddenly arrested him. They entered his house without a warrant, saying they were looking for a certain drug pusher.

Secreto claimed he heard one lawman ordering the others to plant the evidence against him. He and his mother later told the judge that the policemen had demanded P50,000 from them, which was later reduced to P20,000, in exchange for the dropping of the charges against him. Despite this, he was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2006.

The Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed his conviction in February 2011, leading Secreto to elevate his case to the Supreme Court.