Case Digest (G.R. No. 235898)
Facts:
Marlon Dominguez y Argana v. People of the Philippines, G.R. No. 235898, March 13, 2019, the Supreme Court Second Division, Caguioa, J., writing for the Court. Petitioner Marlon Dominguez y Argana (Dominguez) was charged with illegal possession of dangerous drugs under Section 11, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165 for allegedly having a 0.03-gram sachet of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) on August 17, 2010 in Muntinlupa City.At trial the prosecution’s version was that at about 2:00 a.m. SPO1 Gerardo Parchaso, while conducting monitoring, saw Dominguez from about one meter away holding a small transparent sachet; SPO1 Parchaso immediately grabbed and arrested him, recovered the sachet, brought him to the police station, marked the seized sachet "MD," inventory was conducted witnessed by a local government employee, and the specimen tested positive for shabu at the PNP-SPD Crime Laboratory. Photographs and booking documents were prepared and the police testified to the chain of custody.
Dominguez denied the accusation and testified that two men in civilian clothes barged into his house around 11:00 p.m., arrested and manhandled him, then brought him to the station where one officer showed him a sachet and asked him to "settle" the matter; his wife corroborated allegations of physical abuse and an extortion demand. Dominguez did not enter a plea bargain and proceeded to trial.
The Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 203, Muntinlupa City, convicted Dominguez on March 22, 2016, finding the elements of illegal possession proven and the chain of custody intact, and sentenced him to imprisonment and fine. The Court of Appeals (CA), in CA-G.R. CR No. 38665, affirmed the RTC in a May 9, 2017 decision, characterizing the arrest as in flagrante delicto and upholding the evidence under the plain-view/incident-to-arrest doctrines; the CA also noted Dominguez’s failure to object to his arrest before arraignment and treated that as submission to ...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did Dominguez waive his right to object to the legality of his arrest and, if so, does such waiver bar him from contesting the admissibility of the seized evidence?
- Was the warrantless arrest and the subsequent seizure of the sachet lawful under the in flagrante delicto or plain-view exceptions to the warrant requirement; and, if not, is the seized sachet admissible and sufficient to sustain c...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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