Court orders release of Chinese convict

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March 8, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals has ordered the release of a Chinese national found guilty of possession and sale of over 90 kilos of shabu in 2024, as the CA pointed out deficiencies in the handling of drug evidence.

In a 30-page ruling released on Feb. 27, the appellate court’s First Division granted the appeal of Xu Zhou, also known as Wang, to reverse the Manda luyong Regional Trial Court Branch 210 decision to impose a life imprisonment and a fine of up to P800,000.

The CA directed the Bureau of Correc tions to release him from imprisonment “unless confined for any other lawful cause.”

In the ruling, the CA agreed with the Mandaluyong court’s decision that a valid buy-bust operation took place and that it was too late for Xu to object to the case since he pleaded not guilty during arraignment.

Court records show that Xu sold P230,000 worth of shabu during a sting launched by the Philippine Drug Enforce ment Agency (PDEA) at his residence in July 2021.

However, the appellate court said “the prosecution failed to establish an unbroken chain of custody of the seized dangerous drugs,” noting the lack of information on the handling of the evi dence by a PDEA forensic chemist and its supposed turnover to the local court.

“A revisit to the record of this case reveals that there was no information on how the seized illegal items were handled or stored from the time these were turned over to the forensic chem ist, up until their presentation in court. Specifically, it did not contain informa tion on whether the drugs were properly sealed and intact upon receipt, the kind of method used in analyzing the specimen or whether (the specimen were) released and marked,” the CA said.

The CA added that the identity of the evidence custodian was not revealed.

According to the ruling penned by Associate Justice Eduardo Ramos Jr., the “prosecution’s failure to establish with moral certainty the identity and the unbroken chain of custody of the dan gerous drugs creates reasonable doubt on whether these were the same drugs presented in court.”

This failure “undoubtedly compromis es the identity, integrity and evidentiary value of the corpus delicti of the offenses charged,” the ruling read.

CA Presiding Justice Fernanda Lam pas Peralta, who also chairs the First Division, and Associate Justice Perpetua Susana Atal-Paño concurred.