Senator Win Gatchalian wants administrative penalties imposed on government officials who were repeatedly negligent in following technical rules in raids and seizures of smuggling products that led to the dismissal of court cases. 

The chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Gatchalian, noted that a random review of court cases filed against smugglers showed some of these cases were dismissed due to technicalities, rather than on the merits of the case.

“Nagkaroon nga ng operation at nasamsam ang mga smuggled na produkto but we lose the case because of technicality. Dapat bago pa ang operasyon ay plantsado na ito.  Even if the evidence is strong and we’re very confident that it will prosper, but when the case is filed, we lose because of technicalities,” he pointed out. 

To deter cases from getting dismissed due to technicality, officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) found to be repeatedly negligent in following standard operating procedures that lead to dismissal of court cases should be charged administratively and penalized with appropriate sanctions, Gatchalian emphasized. 

In at least two cases of random review conducted by his team, the senator said the warrantless search was deemed illegal and thus, the boxes of cigarettes seized were inadmissible as evidence. In another case, the prosecution failed to establish proper tracing of goods from import documents to the actual physical inspection and thus, the failure to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.