A review of Supreme Court decisions on drug cases from 2012-2016: In view of proposing amendments to R.A. No. 9165 otherwise known as the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002”

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the conviction, acquittal, and dismissal rates of cases in violation of Republic Act No. 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 decided by the Supreme Court from 2012 to 2016. Two hundred thirty-four (234) drug cases were decided for that period where one hundred fifty-two (152) led to the conviction of the accused and in the remaining eighty-two (82), the accused was acquitted or the case was otherwise dismissed. Of the eighty-two (82) cases, forty-five (45) cases were selected as sample size using the proportional stratified random sampling method. With qualitative data analysis, specifically, content analysis, as the research design, the cases were analyzed and categorized according to their ratio decidendi. Results showed that the acquittal of the accused or the dismissal of the case were due to broken chain of custody, illegal arrest and/or unlawful search and seizure, non-presentation of witness or of the corpus delicti, death of the accused, compromised evidence, and violation of the right to privacy or of the right against self-incrimination. These grounds pointed to the lack of or inefficient implementation of the provisions of the law by virtue of the procedural lapses, majority of which is the breach in the chain of custody, committed by the apprehending officers.