The article below describes a common problem in many trial courts in the country - mismanagement of the custody and improper safekeeping of guns and other autoptic evidence in the possession of the courts.
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THE Cebu City chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) called for a thorough inventory of all items in court custody to determine if any of these were lost or stolen.
“We need to know if it’s also happening to other courts. The loss of 13 firearms is alarming,” said IBP Cebu City President Lawyer Mae Elaine Bathan on a phone interview yesterday.
The 13 firearms were supposed to be held in custody of Branch 4 of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) of dismissed Judge Rosabella Mondragon Tormis.
Bathan told Cebu Daily News yesterday that she doesn’t want to single out Tormis because other courts may have the same predicament.
The loss of the 13 firearms was discovered after acting clerk of court Lyssette Yuson received a motion filed by a litigant last June 6 asking for the return of his firearm that was used as evidence in a case.
When Yuson went to the judge’s chamber to recover the firearm, she found out that the cabinet was empty.
About 10 of the 13 firearms were used as evidence in cases that were dismissed or ended in the acquittal of the accused.
The remaining three firearms are used as evidence in pending cases.
Firearms used from cases dismissed can be returned to its owners as long as they are licensed.
Otherwise, it would be turned over to the custody of the Firearms Explosives Security Agencies and Guard Supervisory Section (FESAGGS).
The missing firearms consisted of 10 .38 revolvers, two .22 revolvers and an improvised airgun. Bathan said the likelihood of an inside job cannot be ignored.
“We could come up with different theories that is why a thorough investigation is needed,” she said. CNU Intern Apple Mae M. Ta-as
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