More drug cases in Oriental Negros are expected to be tried and filed in court this year, Regional Trial Court Branch. 30 presiding Judge Rafael Crescencio Tan Jr. said recently.

Records show that Tan has disposed of 170 criminal cases out of the total 275 cases in 2006 and of these, 162 were related to illegal drugs.

Tan said he believes that the disposal ratio is high enough but the ideal based on Supreme Court guidelines is 1:1.

He added that of the 162 disposed cases, 66 accused were convicted, with 22 meted life imprisonments, 36 acquitted, and 52 were found not guilty or the cases against them dismissed.

Most acquittals were due to insufficiency of evidence or after the judge found reasonable doubt in the charges filed.

Tan said cases were also dismissed because of defective search warrants, failure of authorities to follow procedures, and, for some cases, the filing of wrong information by the prosecution. He said causes of dismissal include inconsistencies, failure of witnesses to testify and incomplete recitation of the Bill of Rights, or Article III, Section 12 (1), 1987 Philippine Constitution otherwise known as the Miranda Doctrine.

Tan said this should be a lesson to authorities to effectively prosecute drug offenders this year. He said he also hopes to expedite the resolution of drugs cases this year. Among the cases decided on were five charges filed almost four years ago, 28 cases filed less than three years ago, and 92 cases lodged more than a year ago.

Tan said about 109 new cases filed less than a year ago will be tried later this year.*JG

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