G.R. No. 189840
G.R. No. 189840
Factual Antecedents
On appeal is the Decision dated July 31, 2009 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR-H.C. No. 03208 which affirmed the
Decision dated December 18, 2007 of Branch 65, Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City in Criminal Case Nos. 05-1396 to
1397 convicting beyond reasonable doubt Jay Montevirgen y Oza.raga (appellant) for the crime of illegal sale and possession
of shabu under Sections 5 and 11, Article II of Republic Act (RA) No. 9165 or the "Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002."
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That on or about the 19th day of July 2005, in the City of Makati, Philippines, a place within the jurisdiction of this Honorable
Court, the abovenamed accused, not lawfully authorized to possess or otherwise use any dangerous drug and without the
corresponding license or prescription, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously have in his possession, direct
custody and control weighing zero point zero four (0.04) gram and zero point ten (0.10) gram or [a] total weight of zero point
fourteen (0.14) gram of Methylamphetamine Hydrochloride (Shabu), which is a dangerous drug, in violation of the above-cited
law.
CONTRARY TO LAW.
During arraignment, appellant pleaded "not guilty" in the two cases. After the pre-trial conference, a joint trial on the merits
ensued.
Version of the Prosecution
On July 18, 2005, P/Supt. Marietto Valerio (P/Supt. Valerio) of the Makati City Police Station Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation
Task Force received a report from a confidential informant that appellant was selling shabu in Malvar Street, Barangay South
Cembo, Makati City. Thus, he immediately formed a team composed of police officers and personnel of the Makati Anti-Drug
Abuse Council (MADAC) to conduct a buy-bust operation against appellant. The members of the entrapment team were PO3
Esterio M. Ruiz, Jr. (PO3 Ruiz), PO1 Percival Mendoza, PO1 Honorio Marmonejo (PO1 Marmonejo), Barangay Captain Rodolfo
Doromal, Eugenio Dizer, Miguel Castillo, Leo Sese, and Anthony Villanueva. PO3 Ruiz was designated as poseur-buyer and was
provided with two 100-peso bills marked money. PO1 Marmonejo, on the other hand, coordinated the operation with the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), which issued a Certificate of Coordination. The buy-bust team then proceeded to
the subject area but could not locate appellant.
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The next day, July 19, 2005, the buy-bust team returned to Malvar Street and found appellant talking to three men. After these
men departed, PO3 Ruiz, accompanied by the confidential informant, approached appellant. The confidential informant
introduced PO3 Ruiz to appellant and told him that PO3 Ruiz wanted to buy shabu. Appellant asked PO3 Ruiz how much he
wanted to buy and he replied, P200.00. Appellant pulled out from his pocket three plastic sachets containing white crystalline
substance and told PO3 Ruiz to choose one. He complied and gave the marked money to appellant as payment. Appellant
pocketed the remaining plastic sachets together with the marked money. PO3 Ruiz then took off his cap the pre-arranged
signal that the transaction had been consummated. The other buy-bust team members then rushed to the scene to assist PO3
Ruiz in apprehending appellant. The two other plastic sachets and marked money were recovered from appellant after PO3 Ruiz
ordered him to empty his pockets. PO3 Ruiz then marked the plastic sachets "EMR" for the one appellant sold to him and
"EMR-1" and "EMR-2" for the other two sachets confiscated from appellant.
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Appellant was taken to the police headquarters where he was booked and the incident recorded in the police blotter. The items
seized from him were turned over to the duty investigator who prepared a request for laboratory examination and then sent to the
crime laboratory. The results revealed that the contents of the plastic sachets are positive for shabu.
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Defense witness Fancy Dela Cruz corroborated the testimony of appellant. She averred that at around 1:30 p.m. of July 19,
2005, two vehicles parked almost in front of her. Several men alighted from the vehicles and forced open the door of appellants
house. She inquired as to their intentions but was told not to intervene and to avoid involvement. She complied but heard one of
the men telling appellant to get up and put on his clothes. The men then had appellant board one of the vehicles and sped away.
She looked for appellants wife and informed her of the incident.
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WHEREFORE, the appeal is DENIED. The December 18, 2007 Decision of the Regional Trial Court of the City of Makati, Branch
65 is hereby AFFIRMED.
SO ORDERED.
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Assignment of Errors
Still unable to accept his conviction, appellant is now before us raising the same interrelated errors he assigned before the
CA, viz:
I
THE TRIAL COURT GRAVELY ERRED IN CONVICTING THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT DESPITE NON-COMPLIANCE WITH
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PROPER CUSTODY OF SEIZED DANGEROUS DRUGS UNDER R.A. NO. 9165.
II
THE TRIAL COURT GRAVELY ERRED IN GIVING CREDENCE TO THE PROSECUTIONS EVIDENCE NOTWIT[H]STANDING
THE FAILURE OF THE A[P]PREHENDING TEAM TO PROVE [THE] INTEGRITY OF THE SEIZED DRUGS.
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In his joint discussion of these errors, appellant contends that the police officers involved in the buy-bust operation failed to
observe the proper procedure in the custody and control of the seized drug by not marking the confiscated specimens in the
manner mandated by law. He claims that the arresting team did not immediately conduct a physical inventory of the seized items
and photograph the same in the presence of his representative or counsel, representative from media, Department of Justice,
and any elected public officials pursuant to Section 21 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9165. He also argues
that the Certificate of Coordination has no weight in evidence and cannot be used to prove the legitimacy of the buy-bust
operation since it was issued for the failed entrapment operation the previous day, July 18, 2005.
Appellee, through the Office of the Solicitor General argues that the prosecution sufficiently established all the elements of illegal
sale and possession of shabu against appellant. It asserts that the integrity and evidentiary value of the shabu seized from
appellant were properly preserved by the arresting team.
Our Ruling
The appeal is unmeritorious.
Elements for the Prosecution of Illegal
Sale and Possession of Shabu.
In every prosecution for the illegal sale of shabu, under Section 5, Article II of RA 9165, the following elements must be proved:
"(1) the identity of the buyer and the seller, the object and the consideration; and (2) the delivery of the thing sold and the
payment therefor. x x x What is material in a prosecution for illegal sale of dangerous drugs is the proof that the transaction or
sale actually took place, coupled with the presentation in court of thecorpus delicti" or the illicit drug in evidence. On the other
hand, in prosecuting a case for illegal possession of dangerous drugs under Section 11, Article II of the same law, the following
elements must concur: "(1) the accused is in possession of an item or object, which is identified as a prohibited drug; (2) such
possession is not authorized by law; and (3) the accused freely and consciously possessed the drug.
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In this case, all the elements for the illegal sale of shabu were established. PO3 Ruiz, the poseur-buyer, positively identified
appellant as the person he caught in flagrante delicto selling a white crystalline substance believed to beshabu in the entrapment
operation conducted by the police and MADAC operatives. Upon receipt of the P200.00 buy-bust money, appellant handed to
PO3 Ruiz the sachet containing 0.04 gram of white crystalline substance which later tested positive for shabu. "The delivery of
the contraband to the poseur-buyer and the receipt by the seller of the marked money successfully consummated the buy-bust
transaction x x x."
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All the elements in the prosecution for illegal possession of dangerous drugs were also established. First, the two plastic sachets
containing shabu subject of the case for the illegal possession of drugs were found in appellants pocket after a search on his
person was made following his arrest in flagrante delicto for the illegal sale of shabu. It must be remembered that a person
lawfully arrested may be searched for anything which may have been used or constitute proof in the commission of an offense
without a warrant. Second, appellant did not adduce evidence showing his legal authority to possess the shabu. Third,
appellants act of allowing the poseur-buyer to choose one from among the three sachets and putting back into his pocket the two
sachets of shabu not chosen clearly shows that he freely and consciously possessed the illegal drugs. Hence, appellant was
correctly charged and convicted for illegal possession of shabu.
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Appellants defense of denial cannot prevail against the positive testimony of prosecution witnesses. There is also no imputation
by appellant of any evil motives on the part of the buy-bust team to falsely testify against him. Their testimonies and actuations
therefore enjoy the presumption of regularity.
Failure to Physically Inventory and
Here, the absence of evidence that the buy-bust team made an inventory and took photographs of the drugs seized from
appellant was not fatal since the prosecution was able to preserve the integrity and evidentiary value of the shabu. PO3 Ruiz, the
poseur-buyer and apprehending officer, marked the seized items in front of appellant, the barangay captain and other members
of the buy-bust team, immediately after the consummation of the drug transaction. He then delivered the seized items to the duty
investigator, who in turn sent the same to the PNP Crime Laboratory for examination on the same day. During trial, PO3 Ruiz
was able to identify the said markings and explain how they were made.
Clearly, there was no hiatus or confusion in the confiscation, handling, custody and examination of the shabu. The illegal drugs
that were confiscated from appellant, taken to the police headquarters, subjected to qualitative examination at the crime
laboratory, and finally introduced in evidence against appellant were the same illegal drugs that were confiscated from him when
he was caught in flagrante delicto selling and possessing the same.
1wphi1
Appellants contention that the buy-bust team should have coordinated with the PDEA on the day the entrapment operation
occurred deserves scant consideration. Coordination with the PDEA is not an indispensable element of a proper buy-bust
operation. A buy-bust operation is not invalidated by mere noncoordination with the PDEA.
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Penalty
Under Section 5, Article II of RA 9165, the penalty for the unauthorized sale of shabu, regardless of its quantity and purity, is life
imprisonment to death and a fine ranging from P500,000.00 to P10 million. Since the penalty imposed by the RTC and affirmed
by the CA is within the prescribed range, we affirm the lower courts imposition of life imprisonment as well as the payment of fine
of P500,000.00.
On the other hand, Section 11(3), Article II of the same law provides that illegal possession of less than five grams of shabu is
penalized with imprisonment of twelve (12) years and one (1) day to twenty (20) years plus a fine ranging from P300,000.00
to P400,000.00.
Appellant was found guilty of selling one sachet containing 0.04 gram of shabu and of possessing two other sachets of the same
substance with a total weight of 0.14 gram. Hence, applying the above provisions, the penalty of imprisonment of twelve (12)
years and one (1) day as minimum to twenty (20) years as maximum and the payment of fine of P300,000.00 imposed by the
RTC and affirmed by the CA are also proper.
WHEREFORE, the appeal is DISMISSED. The assailed Decision dated July 31, 2009 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CRH.C. No. 03208 affirming the conviction of Jay Montevirgen y Ozaraga by the Regional Trial Court of Makati City, Branch 65, for
violation of Sections 5 and 11, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165, is AFFIRMED.
SO ORDERED.
MARIANO C. DEL CASTILLO
Associate Justice
WE CONCUR:
ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice
Chairperson
ARTURO D. BRION
Associate Justice
ESTELA M. PERLAS-BERNABE
Associate Justice
Footnotes
People v. Guiara, G.R No. 186497, September 17, 2009, 600 SCRA 310, 329.
CA rol/o, pp. 99-124; penned by Associate Justice Portia Alifio-Hormachuelos and concurred in by Associate
Justices Arcangelita M. Romilla Lontok and Myrna Dimaranan Vidal.
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Id. at 2.
Id. at 4.
Id. at 13.
Id. at 10-13.
Id. at 13-14; Exhibits "K" to "K-2," "L" to "L-2" and "M" to "M-2," Formal Offer of Evidence, id. at 66-70.
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Id. at 111-112.
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Id. at 123.
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Id. at 33.
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People v. Sembrano, G.R. No. 185848, August 16, 2010, 628 SCRA 328, 342-343.
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People v. Legaspi, G.R. No. 173485, November 23, 2011, 661 SCRA 171, 185.
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21
People v. Manalao, G.R. No. 187496, February 6, 2013, 690 SCRA 106, 119.
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People v. Adrid, G.R. No. 201845, March 6, 2013, 692 SCRA 683, 696.
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Id., quoting People v. Roa, G.R. No. 186134, May 6, 2010, 620 SCRA 359, 369-370.