Chain of Custody: Safeguarding Drug Evidence Integrity in Philippine Law
In People v. Segundo, the Supreme Court acquitted a drug suspect because police broke the chain of custody over a sachet of shabu.
A conviction for selling 0.03 gram of shabu crumbled before the Supreme Court not because the amount was trivial, but because the police handling of the evidence was not. In People v. Segundo (G.R. No. 205614, July 26, 2017, 814 Phil. 697), the Court restated a vital rule in drug prosecutions: the seized drug itself is the corpus delicti, and its identity must be proved beyond reasonable doubt through an unbroken chain of custody.
The Case: A Buy-Bust and a Single Sachet
On July 6, 2003, police officers in Mandaluyong City acted on a tip that Jaime Segundo y Iglesias was selling illegal drugs. A buy-bust team was formed, and PO1 Cesar Claveron acted as the pose
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