POLICE WARNED AGAINST DISMISSAL OF DRUG CASES

Immediate superiors of policemen who deliberately cause the unsuccessful
prosecution of drug offenders, leading to the dismissal of drug cases will
also face the penalty of imprisonment and dismissal from the service, the
police said yesterday.

RA 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002, states that the
immediate superiors of police personnel will be penalized a maximum of six
months imprisonment and a fine of P50,000, if he will not exert reasonable
effort to present the concerned PNP member who served as a witness to the
court.

Senior Supt. Vicente Ponteras, provincial police director of Negros
Occidental, yesterday said he has already disseminated the guidelines of
the Department of Interior and Local Government, on the provisions of RA 9165.

Ponteras warned of administrative and criminal sanctions against policemen
who fail to comply with their duty, or ignore the court order, for them to
appear in court as witnesses in drug-related offenses.

Similar penalties await government prosecutors, members of the Philippine
Drug Enforcement Agency and other law enforcement agencies, should they
bungle the prosecution of drug cases.

The Dangerous Drug Board chaired by Jose Lina Jr., concurrent secretary of
the Department of Interior and Local Government and NAPOLCOM chairman,
cited RA 9165 which provides for the imprisonment from 12 to 20 years of
imprisonment, police officers and personnel who "through patent laxity,
inexcusable neglect, unreasonable delay or deliberately cause the
unsuccessful prosecution and dismissal of drug cases".

We will not allow their incompetence to go unpunished. We shall hold them
liable should their inaction result in the dismissal of drug cases and the
acquittal of the accused in said cases, Lina, said in a statement issued.
Planting of evidence, by the police, if determined by the court, is
punishable by death, RA 9165 says.

Meanwhile, Ponteras is expected to lead the launching of Anti-Illegal Drugs
Special Operation Task Force, a revitalized anti-drug unit of the Negros
Occidental Police Provincial Office headed by Senior Inspector Calixto
Mabugat, today, at Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr. in Bacolod City.

He said the AIDSOTF will focus on the anti-drug campaign in Negros Occidental.