The Supreme Court (SC) has acquitted two people of drug charges due to a lack of chain of custody for the seized illegal drugs and the absence of insulating witnesses during the police buy-bust operation.

This spared them from the life sentence earlier imposed on them.

In a 9 October resolution penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa and released recently, the SC Special First Division ruled that the suspects must be acquitted due to a gap in the chain of custody of the illegal drugs seized during the operation.

Ordered released were Diosdado Rebuton and Marilou Rebutazo — unless they are being held for another cause — after the court reversed the guilty verdict against them.

Court records show that only Rebutazo filed a motion for reconsideration. However, the SC also acquitted Rebuton as they were charged with the same offense, and the ruling was favorable to him.

The duo was first charged following their arrest in 2010 for allegedly selling shabu to an undercover agent in Dumaguete.

In 2013, they were convicted by the Regional Trial Court of illegal sale of drugs and sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of P500,000 each. They were also convicted of two counts of illegal possession of drugs and sentenced to shorter jail terms for these.

The Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, and the accused elevated the matter to the SC.

The SC First Division upheld the ruling in 2017, but Rebutazo filed a motion for reconsideration.

The court held that the absence of insulating witnesses “at or near” the place where they were apprehended was a critical issue. Warrantless arrests in buy-bust operations require the presence of such witnesses.

It noted that insulating witnesses are crucial for ensuring proper inventory procedures and preventing the planting of evidence. In this case, none of the insulating witnesses were present during the apprehension, and they were also not near the place where it was conducted.

It said that based on the testimony of police officers, the witnesses were called in after the buy-bust operation or the apprehension of Rebuton and Rebutazo.