SECOND DIVISION
G.R. No. 230983, September 04, 2019
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, v. EDGARDO GARCIA Y ANCHETA, ACCUSED-APPELLANT.
D E C I S I O N
LAZARO-JAVIER, J.:
That on or about the 4th day of July 2013, in the City of San Fernando, La Union, Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, did then and there, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, deliver and sell one (1) piece of heat sealed transparent plastic sachet containing methamphetamine hydrochloride otherwise known as "shabu", a dangerous drug, with a net weight of zero point zero two three one (0.0231) gram to PO3 Elvis L. Yaris, who posed as poseur buyer, and in consideration of said shabu, used marked money, consisting of one (1) piece of fake One Thousand peso Bill (P1,000.00) bearing serial number B081871, without fist securing the necessary permit, license or authority from the proper government agency.The case was raffled to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) - Branch 29, San Fernando City, La Union.
Contrary to Law.4
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Court finds the accused Edgardo Garcia guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of violation of Section 5, Article II of R.A. [9165] and hereby sentences him to suffer the penalty of Life Imprisonment, without eligibility of parole, and to pay the fine of P500,000.00. The period of preventive imprisonment suffered by the accused shall be credited in his favor.It ruled that all the elements of the crime were sufficiently established, that the chain of custody was duly observed, and the corpus delicti was positively identified.23
The sachet of shabu subject of the case is ordered transmitted to the PDEA for proper disposition.
SO ORDERED.22
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. - The PDEA shall take charge and have custody of all dangerous drugs, plant sources of dangerous drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals, as well as instruments/paraphernalia and/or laboratory equipment so confiscated, seized and/or surrendered, for proper disposition in the following manner:The Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9165 further commands:(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; (emphasis added)xxxx
Section 21. (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, (emphasis added)To ensure the integrity of the seized drug item, the prosecution must account for each link in its chain of custody:39first, the seizure and marking of the illegal drug recovered from the accused by the apprehending officer; second, the turnover of the illegal drug seized by the apprehending officer to the investigating officer; third, the turnover by the investigating officer of the illegal drug to the forensic chemist for laboratory examination; and fourth, the turnover and submission of the marked illegal drug seized by the forensic chemist to the court.40
Prosecution witness PO3 Yaris testified:Prosecution witness PO3 Bayan further testified:
PROS. CORPUZ xxxx Q What happened after arrival at the place of transaction? A We waited for a couple of minutes when a person arrived. Q About how many minutes did you wait? A Maybe around 5 minutes [ma'am]. Q What happened when a certain person arrived? A The CI approached to (sic) the person who arrived. Q What happened after the CI approached this person? A They talked for a while then I went near to (sic) them and the CI introduced me to the person as the interested buyer. Q Were you able to hear their conversation prior to the time that you approached them the CI and Edgardo Garcia? A Yes [ma'am]. Q What were they talking about before you approached [them]? A He asked "who am I" and he was also asking if I was the interested buyer, [ma'am]. Q Who was the person asking your identity? A Edgardo Garcia, [ma'am]. xxxx Q After that, what happened next? A He asked me if how much am I going to buy then thereafter, he took out something from his right pocket. Q And what did you do after that? A I handed to him the boodle money. Q Can you describe to us how did you hand the money to Edgardo Garcia? A I just handed to him. Q I'm handing you again this boodle money which you identified a while ago, can you show us how this boodle money was handed by you to Edgardo Garcia? A This way [ma'am] (witness demonstrating to us how the boodle money was handed to Edgardo Garcia by holding the boodle money that was folded into four in such a way that the markings cannot be readily seen). Q After you handed the Php1,000.00 boodle money to Edgardo Garcia what happened next? A When he got hold the money he took out something from his right pocket and gave it to me. Q And what was that something that he handed to you? A One heat sealed transparent plastic sachet mam (sic). xxxx Q When this one heat sealed transparent plastic sachet was handed to you what did you do next? A I put it in my pocket and there after I apprehended him, [ma'am]. xxxx Q And after searching the body of the accused and after you recovered all the items you previously identified, what else did you do if there's any? A I prepared the inventory of the items that were seized from him in the presence of the media and the barangay official, [ma'am].42
(Emphases supplied)xxxx On cross: PROS. CORPUZ xxxx Q You then prepared the certificate of inventory? A Yes ma'am. Q So the sachet and the boodle money you got from him were those placed in the certificate of inventory? A Yes ma'am. Q And being the arresting officer, and the one who frisked him, you were the one who placed those items you obtained from his possession in the certificate of inventory? A Yes ma'am. Q I'm showing to you the Certificate of Inventory, this is the Certificate of Inventory you yourself prepared is it not? A Yes ma'am. Q And of course you put here the items you confiscated from his possession? A Yes ma'am. Q Including one (1) small transparent plastic sachet containing white crystalline substance known as shabu is that correct? A Yes ma'am. Q And the boodle money? A Yes ma'am. Q The certificate of inventory was not signed by the accused? A None ma'am. Q And there was no representative from the DOJ to sign the certificate of inventory? A None ma'am.43 (Emphases supplied) xxxx PROS CORPUZ. Q Mr. witness will you explain to us how come that the signature of the accused does not appear in the certificate of inventory? A We were not able to have him sign because I do not know whether he should sign or not ma'am. Q And will you explain to us why one of the members of the DOJ did not sign the certificate of inventory? A Because it was already early morning so we have not contacted any member or representative from the DOJ ma'am.44 (Emphasis supplied)
First, as admitted by the prosecution witnesses themselves, the seized item was not immediately marked upon the arrest of appellant. The Court held in People v. Ramirez47 that marking of the seized item immediately after seizure is vital to ensure its integrity and veracity by preventing switching, planting, or contamination of evidence.48
PROS. CORPUZ xxxx Q After a body search was conducted upon the person of the male person, do you know what your other companions did, PO2 Lucena, Capt. Miedes and Francisca Bermudez? A I heard Capt. Miedes calling through the cellphone the representative from the media, Rico Valdez. Q And what happened after the call Mr. Witness? A After the call ma'am Rico Valdez and the barangay official of Barangay III arrived. Q How many minutes after the arrest was the arrival of this Rico Valdez? A More or less 10 minutes ma'am. Q What about the representative of Barangay III? A Maybe more or less 10 minutes also ma'am. xxxx Q And then what happened Mr. Witness after the representative of Barangay III and the media representative arrived? A PO3 Yaris presented the seized items and the recovered boodle money and the white heat sealed sachet to the media representative and the barangay officials (sic), and also in front of Edgardo ma'am. Q When you said PO3 Yaris presented the items seized and the plastic sachet, how did he present the same to the accused, to the media representative and to the representative of the barangay official? A He put it on top of the cemented floor ma'am. Q After he presented the same, what else did he do if you can still remember? A He put markings on it then after which, he conducted an inventory.45 (Emphasis supplied) xxxx Finally, prosecution witness Valdez testified: PROS. CORPUZ xxxx Q What about the corresponding markings were you able to see these markings? A Yes [ma'am]. Q When [were] these markings placed? A The markings [were] placed outside the plastic sachet, [ma'am]. Q Were you present when these markings were placed Mr. Witness? A Yes [ma'am]. Q What about the boodle money amounting to Php1,000.00 were you able to see this Mr. Witness? A Yes [ma'am]. Q And also the nokia cell phone? A Yes [ma'am]. Q And also the two lighters? A Yes [ma'am]. Q These five (5) items I mentioned to you contained already markings, were you able to see these markings? A Yes [ma'am]. Q Where [did] the [marking] [take] place? A At the place of operation [ma'am]. Q And were you present when these markings were made? A Yes [ma'am]. Q Were you present when the Certificate of Inventory was prepared? A Yes [ma'am]. xxxx On Cross: ATTY. AGTARAP xxxx Q When you said that you did not see the conduct of the body search you don't know if those items which were listed in the [Certificate] of Inventory were really those items which were recovered from the possession of the accused? A I saw them before I signed... Q My question Mr. witness is that, you said that you were not around during the conduct of the body search upon the person of Edgardo Garcia, correct? A Yes [ma'am]. Q So those items that were listed in the [Certificate] of Inventory you are not sure if these are the items which were recovered from the accused, is that correct Mr. witness? A Yes [ma'am].46 xxxx
Endnotes:
1 Filed under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court.
2 Penned by Associate Justice Magdangal M. De Leon and concurred in by Associate Justices Elihu A. Ybañez and Nina G. Antonio-Valenzuela; Rollo, pp. 2-21.
3 Otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
4Rollo, p. 3.
5 Forensic Chemist of PNP Regional Crime Laboratory Office.
6 Duty Police Non-commissioned Officer of the Crime Laboratory.
7Id. at 4-11.
8Id. at 5-6.
9Id. at 4.
10Id. at 6.
11Id
12Id.
13Id. at 7.
14Id. at 7-8.
15Id. at 8.
16Id. at 8-9.
17Id at 9-10.
18Id. at 10.
19Id.
20Id.
21 Penned by Presiding Judge Asuncion F. Mandia.
22 CA rollo, pp. 50-56.
23Id. at 55.
24Id. at 41.
25Id. at 42.
26Id. at 43.
27Id. at 44.
28Id.
29Id. at 80-90.
30Rollo, p. 10.
31 CA rollo, p. 88.
32Id. at 89.
33Rollo, pp. 2-21.
34Id. at 16.
35Id. at 17.
36Id. at 22.
37Id. at 29-35.
38 "The reviewing tribunal can correct errors, though unassigned in the appealed judgment, or even reverse the trial court's decision based on grounds other than those that the parties raised as errors.", Miguel v. People, G.R. No. 227038, July 31, 2017, 833 SCRA 440, 448, citing People v. Alejandro, 807 Phil. 221, 229 (2017), and People v. Comboy, 782 Phil, 187, 196 (2016).
39 As defined in Section l(b) of Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 1, Series of 2002:xxxx
b. "Chain of Custody" means the duly recorded authorized movements and custody of seized drugs or controlled chemicals or plant sources of dangerous drugs or laboratory equipment of each stage, from the time of seizure/confiscation to receipt in the forensic laboratory to safekeeping to presentation in court for destruction. Such record of movements and custody of seized item shall include the identity and signature of the person who held temporary custody of the seized item, the date and time when such transfer of custody were made in the course of safekeeping and use in court as evidence, and the final disposition[.]xxxx
40Jocson v. People, G.R. No. 199644, June 19, 2019, citing People v. Dahil, 750 Phil. 212, 231 (2015).
41Id., citing People vs. Hementiza, 807 Phil. 1017, 1026 (2017).
42 TSN Dated May 7, 2014, Testimony of PO3 Elvis Yaris, pp. 10-17.
43 TSN Dated June 18, 2014, Testimony of Elvis Yaris on Cross, p. 10.
44Id. at 11.
45 TSN Dated August 6, 2014, Testimony of John Ely Bayan, pp. 6-8.
46 TSN Dated September 3, 2014, Testimony of Rico Valdez, pp. 6-10.
47 G.R. No. 225690, January 17, 2018, citing People v. Sanchez, 590 Phil. 214, 241 (2008).
48 Id., citing People v. Nuarin, 764 Phil. 550, 557-558 (2015).
49 TSN Dated June 18, 2014, Testimony of Elvis Yaris-Cross, p. 11.
50 G.R. No. 231989, September 4, 2018, citing People v. Ramons, G.R. No. 233744, February 28, 2018.
51 G.R. No. 225497, July 23, 2018.
52 See Section 21 (a), Article II, of the IRR of RA 9165.
53 Section 3(m), Rule 131, Rules of Court.
54People v. Cabiles, June 7, 2017, G.R. No. 220758, 827 SCRA 89, 98.