BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – A butcher working for the city’s slaughterhouse heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, Jan. 18, after the trial court acquitted him of the charge of violating the Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolution prohibiting the unauthorized possession of bladed weapons.
Judge Victorino Oliveros Maniba Jr. of the Regional Trial Court Branch 39 dismissed the complaint against Jonathan Pico for violation of Batas Pambansa 881, concerning Sec. 264 of Republic Act 7166 and Comelec Resolution 10015.
“The evidentiary value of the subject knife was not preserved,” said Judge Maniba, who cited the latest Supreme Court decision in the case of Buella versus people, which requires requisite in the chain of custody to support the case.
Police arrested Pico for possession of the bladed weapon tucked in his waist at a checkpoint on Lopez Jaena Street in Barangay Democracia, Jaro district last Feb. 5, 2016.
The police said Pico carried the 13-inch bladed weapon without authority from the Comelec.
When the police flagged him down at a checkpoint, Pico was tucking the bladed weapon in his waist.
He was eventually charged with violation of City Ordinance No. 138 and the Comelec gun ban.
In his testimony, Pico denied violating the Comelec gun ban. He said he was about to board his motorcycle when a policeman approached him, frisked his back and pulled up his shirt.
Pico said the bladed weapon he was carrying at the time of his arrest was used in his job as a butcher at the city’s slaughterhouse.
He said the case filed against him for violation of an ordinance prohibiting the carrying of a bladed instrument was already dismissed.
In the decision, Judge Maniba cited Comelec Resolution No. 10015, which provides that bladed weapons are excluded from the term “deadly weapon.”
Citing the case of Buella versus people issued in April 2023, the judge said the High Court ruled the term “deadly weapons” does not include “bladed weapon.”
The tribunal also struck down Sec. 1(f), Rule 1 of Comelec Resolution for being void since it includes a “bladed weapon”.
“Thus, possession of a bladed weapon without a necessary permit is not tantamount to possession of “deadly weapon,” which is sanctioned under Comelec Resolution No. 9981 and 10015 for merely possessing a bladed weapon which is not sanctioned under the law,” read Judge Maniba’s decision.
In addition, the judge noted that even assuming the bladed weapons were deadly, the prosecution still failed to prove the elements of the crime.
The prosecution failed to establish the identity of the supposed bladed weapon seized from Pico. The policeman, who confiscated the bladed weapon, failed to properly mark the weapon, casting doubt as to the identity and integrity of the alleged confiscated bladed weapon./PN
