THIRD DIVISION
G.R. No. 212632, August 24, 2016
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. DEN ANDO Y SADULLAH AND SARAH ANDO Y BERNAL, Accused-Appellants.
D E C I S I O N
PEREZ, J.:
For our resolution is the appeal filed by accused-appellants Den Ando y Sabdullah (Den) and Sarah Ando y Bernal (Sarah) assailing the 10 December 2013 Decision1 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR.-H.C. No. 05679.
Culled from the records2 were the following counter-statement of facts:
chanRoblesvirtualLawlibraryOn 3 October 2006, an informant went at the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (QADAC) to inform Police Officer 3 (PO3) Leonardo Ramos (PO3 Ramos) that a certain Ben was selling shabu at Maguindanao Street, Salam Mosque, Barangay Culiat, Quezon City. Thereafter, an entrapment team was formed consisting of PO1 Alexander Jimenez (PO1 Jimenez), PO1 Teresita Reyes (POl Reyes), PO2 Joseph Ortiz (PO2 Ortiz), and POl Peggy Lyn Vargas (POl Vargas). POl Vargas was designated as poseur-buyer and was provided with a P500.00 bill marked money.
The following day at about 4:00 a.m., the buy-bust team together with the informant proceeded to the designated area. POl Vargas and the informant went to the house of alias Ben along Maguindanao Street, Salam Mosque, Quezon City. The informant introduced alias Ben to POl Vargas who asked how much shabu she needed. The latter responded "Limang piso po" and handed over the P500.00 buy-bust money. Alias Ben called his wife and told her to give POl Vargas P500.00 worth of shabu. The wife took out from her bra a small plastic sachet containing a white crystalline substance and handed it to POl Vargas. Thereafter, POl Vargas threw her cigarette, which was the prearranged signal that the sale was already consummated. The other operatives responded and introduced themselves as police officers. PO2 Ortiz frisked alias Ben who was identified as accused-appellant Den and recovered from him the buy-bust money. POl Reyes apprehended the wife identified as accused-appellant Sarah. The sachet containing the white crystalline substance was marked with "PV-10-04-06" and sent to the crime laboratory for examination. The examination showed that the contents of the plastic sachet weighed 0.15 gram and are positive for methylamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.
Accused-appellants denied the charges against them. Accused-appellants claimed that at around 4:30 in the morning of 4 October 2006, they were at home with their children when police officers knocked and pushed their door. The police officers ordered them to bring "it" out but they did not know what to bring out. The officers then searched their house. After thirty (30) minutes, they were brought to QADAC where they were detained. Accused-appellants further claimed that during their detention, police officer Leonardo Ramos demanded P50,000.00 from them in exchange for their release. However, they were unable to put up the amount. They were presented for inquest on 9 October 2006 for violation of the anti-drugs law.
(a) The apprehending officer/team having initial custody and control of the drugs shall, immediately after seizure and confiscation, physically inventory and photograph the same in the presence of the accused or the person/s from whom such items were confiscated and/or seized, or his/her representative or counsel, a representative from the media and the Department "of Justice (DOJ), and any elected public official who shall be required to sign the copies of the inventory and be given a copy thereof: Provided, that the physical inventory and photograph shall be conducted at the place where the search warrant is served; or at the nearest police station or at the nearest office of the apprehending officer/team, whichever is practicable, in case of warrantless seizures; Provided, further, that non-compliance with these requirements under justifiable grounds, as long as the integrity and the evidentiary value of the seized items are properly preserved by the apprehending officer/team, shall not render void and invalid such seizures of and custody over said items[.]The last part of the aforequoted issuance provided the exception to the strict compliance with the requirements of Section 21 of R.A. No. 9165. Although ideally the prosecution should offer a perfect chain of custody in the handling of evidence, "substantial compliance with the legal requirements on the handling of the seized item" is sufficient.17 This Court has consistently ruled that even if the arresting officers failed to strictly comply with the requirements under Section 21 of R.A. No. 9165, such procedural lapse is not fatal and will not render the items seized inadmissible in evidence.18 What is of utmost importance is the preservation of the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized items, as the same would be utilized in the determination of the guilt or innocence of the accused.19 In other words, to be admissible in evidence, the prosecution must be able to present through records or testimony, the whereabouts of the dangerous drugs from the time these were seized from the accused by the arresting officers; turned-over to the investigating officer; forwarded to the laboratory for determination of their composition; and up to the time these are offered in evidence. For as long as the chain of custody remains unbroken, as in this case, even though the procedural requirements provided for in Sec. 21 of R.A. No. 9165 were not faithfully observed, the guilt of the accused will not be affected.20chanrobleslaw
Endnotes:
* Additional Member per Raffle dated 22 August 2016.
1Rollo, pp. 2-10; Penned by Associate Justice Socorro B. Inting with Associate Justices Jose C. Reyes Jr. and Mario V. Lopez concurring.
2 Id. at 2-3.
3 Records, pp. 193-199.
4 Otherwise known as the "Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002."
5 Records, p. 199.
6People v. Jubail, 472 Phil. 527, 546 (2004).
7People v. Chang, 382 Phil 669, 672 (2000).
8People v. Midenilla, 645 Phil. 587, 601 (2010) citing People v. Guiara, 616 Phil. 290, 302 (2009) further citing People v. Gonzales, 430 Phil. 504, 513 (2002).
9People v. Jubail, supra note 6 at 550.
10People v. Dumlao, 584 Phil. 732, 740 (2008).
11People v. Padasin, 445 Phil 448, 455-456 (2003).
12 Section 21. Custody and Disposition of Confiscated, Seized, and/or Surrendered Dangerous Drugs, Plant Sources of Dangerous Drugs, Controlled Precursors and Essential Chemicals, Instruments/Paraphernalia and/or Laboratory Equipment. — x x x (1) The apprehending team having initial custody and control of the drugs shall immediately after seizure and confiscation, physically inventory and photograph the same in the presence of the accused or the person/s from whom such items were confiscated and/or seized, or his/her representative or counsel, a representative from the media and the Department of Justice (DOJ), and any elected public official who shall be required to sign the copies of the inventory and be given a copy thereof [.]
13 In People v. Sanchez (590 Phil. 214, 234 [2008]), we held that "non-compliance with the strict directive of Section 21 of R.A. No. 9165 is not necessarily fatal to the prosecution's case; [but these lapses] must be recognized and explained in terms of their justifiable grounds and the integrity and evidentiary value of the evidence seized must be shown to have been preserved."
14 320 Phil 324, 340(1995).
15 Supra note 13 at 240.
16 TSN, 6 October 2009, pp. 16-18.
17People v. Cortez, 611 Phil. 360, 381 (2009).
18People v. Almodiel, 694 Phil. 449, 467 (2012); People v. Campos, 643 Phil. 668, 673 (2008) citing People v. Conception, 578 Phil. 957, 971 (2008).
19People v. Magundayao, 683 Phil. 295, 321 (2012); People v. Le, 636 Phil. 586, 598 (2010) citing People v. De Leon, 624 Phil. 786, 801 (2010) further citing People v. Naquita, 582 Phil. 422, 442 (2008); People v. Conception, 578 Phil. 957, 971 (2008).
20People v. Manlangit, 654 Phil. 427, 440-441 (2011) citing People v. Rosialda, 643 Phil. 712, 726 (2010) further citing People v. Rivera, 590 Phil. 894, 912-913 (2008).
21People v. Miranda, 560 Phil. 795, 810 (2007).
22People v. Ang Chun Kit, 321 Phil. 1049, 1057 (1995).
23 The imposition of the death penalty has been proscribed with the effectivity of R.A. No. 9346, otherwise known as "An Act Prohibiting the imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines."