Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III is pushing amendments to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act to expand who can serve as witnesses during the inventory of seized drugs and provide greater flexibility in the chain of custody, aiming to improve prosecution rates in drug cases.
Currently, the law requires the apprehending team to inventory and photograph confiscated drugs in the presence of the suspect, their counsel or representative, media, a Department of Justice representative, and an elected public official.
“Instead of mandating that witnesses must be elected officials, representative of (the Department of Justice) or media in every operation, we can mandate that the two-witness rule be ordinary citizens living in the area or body-worn camera in lieu of witnesses,” Sotto said in a privileged speech.
He attributed the high acquittal rate in drug cases to strict witness requirements, citing repeated violations of chain-of-custody rules and poorly built cases.
Sotto noted reports of duplicated or templated evidence and weak coordination between police and prosecutors.
An inquiry in Parañaque revealed that 75%-85% of drug cases were dismissed for failing to meet witness requirements.
Enforcers also highlighted challenges in conducting buy-bust or entrapment operations due to the unavailability of prosecutors, media, or elected officials “at the time of or immediately following” the operation, as mandated by law.