Title
People vs. Dela Cruz y Sebastian
Case
G.R. No. 193670
Decision Date
Dec 3, 2014
Appellant convicted for illegal shabu sale after buy-bust operation; defense of frame-up rejected; chain of custody upheld; life imprisonment affirmed.
selling shabu
marking of seized drugs
legitimacy of operation

Case Summary (G.R. No. 193670)

Factual Background: The Buy-Bust Operation and the Apprehension

On July 25, 2003, Ebio received information from another police asset that he could purchase shabu by calling a specific person. Ebio called that person through a cellular phone and agreed to meet in front of the barangay hall of Lerma, Naga City. A pre-operation plan for entrapment was drawn up in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. A buy-bust team composed of SPO1 Ruben Antonio, SPO1 Cornelio Morano, PO3 Raul Bongon, and SPO3 Julio Tuason was formed. Ebio was designated as the poseur-buyer and was given three P500.00 bills as the buy-bust money. PO3 Bongon was tasked to apprehend the seller after the transaction.

The team proceeded to the designated area. Ebio, SPO3 Tuason, and SPO1 Morano alighted from their vehicle, while the rest positioned themselves nearby. After a few minutes, a man riding a motorcycle arrived. The buy-bust team identified the man as the seller based on Ebio’s description. Ebio introduced himself as the buyer. When the man asked for payment, Ebio handed him the buy-bust money. The man then took out two transparent plastic sachets containing a white crystalline substance and handed them to Ebio. After Ebio received the sachets, he removed his hat as the pre-arranged signal indicating that the sale had been consummated.

Immediately thereafter, PO3 Bongon, SPO1 Morano, and SPO1 Antonio rushed toward the man and apprehended him. From the appellant, they recovered the buy-bust money and another plastic sachet containing a white crystalline substance. As part of the immediate post-apprehension handling, PO3 Bongon marked the two sachets turned over to Ebio as RSB-1 and RSB-2. He also marked the third sachet recovered from appellant after conducting a search on him as RSB-3. PO3 Bongon then turned over the seized items, together with the marked money, to SPO1 Antonio for proper disposition.

Forensic Examination and Filing of the Information

After the arrest, police investigation identified the person as the appellant. SPO1 Antonio brought the sachets to the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory for examination. Forensic Chemist Clemen found the contents positive for shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride). Consequently, an Information for Violation of Section 5, Article II of RA 9165 was filed against appellant.

The provided text includes that the Information charged appellant with the sale of two (2) heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets containing shabu for P1,500.00, although three sachets were recovered from him as an incident of the arrest. The records showed that all three sachets were submitted for laboratory examination and were formally offered as evidence.

Appellant’s Defense: Denial and Alleged Frame-Up

Appellant denied the accusation and asserted that he was a victim of frame-up. He claimed that on the evening of July 25, 2003, he was riding his motorcycle toward the area near Panganiban Bridge in Lerma, Naga City. He stated that he was going to his parents’ house to inform them that he and his family would leave early the next day for Camarines Sur to attend the wake of his father-in-law, who had recently died.

According to appellant, as he was descending the bridge, two individuals grabbed his hands. He alleged that a police officer then emerged from a car and instructed him to get off his motorcycle. Appellant asserted that PO3 Bongon frisked him and took his cellular phone and a telephone directory containing money. He further claimed that he was made to board a mobile car and was brought to a police station, where he was threatened with being charged unless he cooperated in the arrest of a person named Habagat, whom appellant said he knew as a computer technician but had no involvement in the case. Appellant contended that, after he refused, the police instead filed a case against him.

Trial Court Proceedings and Conviction

On March 15, 2005, the RTC of Naga City, Branch 28 rendered judgment convicting appellant of Violation of Section 5, Article II of RA 9165. The RTC sentenced him to suffer life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000.00. Appellant did not succeed in his denial and frame-up theory at the trial level, and the RTC credited the prosecution’s evidence on the buy-bust transaction, the recovery of the marked money and sachets, and the forensic findings.

Appellate Review: The CA Decision

Appellant appealed to the CA, which on June 25, 2010 rendered a decision affirming the RTC judgment in CA-G.R. CR-H.C. No. 01025. The CA thus sustained the finding that the prosecution proved the elements of illegal sale of shabu beyond reasonable doubt.

The Issues Raised on Appeal

In the Supreme Court appeal, appellant challenged the conviction on two principal grounds: first, he argued that the prosecution failed to make clear where the three sachets of shabu were marked; and second, he asserted that the prosecution did not show a clear understanding between appellant and the poseur-buyer regarding the quantity of shabu supposedly being purchased. Appellant maintained that these claimed evidentiary deficiencies required the application of the presumption of innocence.

Legal Standards: Elements of Illegal Sale and Chain of Custody

The Court reiterated that, in prosecutions for illegal sale of dangerous drugs such as shabu, the prosecution must establish two sets of elements: (1) the identity of the buyer and seller, the object, and the consideration; and (2) the delivery of the thing sold and the payment therefor. The Court also emphasized that, in a buy-bust operation, the delivery of the illicit drug to the poseur-buyer and the receipt by the seller of the marked money consummate the transaction.

On the matter of evidence preservation, the Court discussed chain of custody as the duly recorded and authorized movements and custody of the seized drug at each stage, from seizure or confiscation to receipt in the forensic laboratory, safekeeping, and presentation in court for destruction. The Court explained that marking is an initial stage in the chain of custody in buy-bust operations and must be made in the presence of the apprehended offender and upon immediate confiscation, with marking at the nearest police station or office of the apprehending team contemplated as a compliant practice.

The Court’s Ruling on the Alleged Chain of Custody Gap

The Court rejected appellant’s contention that the prosecution’s failure to mention the exact location where markings were made created a fatal gap in the chain of custody. It held that while the testimony did not specify the precise place of marking, the surrounding facts reasonably supported the conclusion that the markings were done during appellant’s apprehension, in transit to the police station, or before the sachets were turned over to the designated officer. The Court stressed that Ebio turned over to PO3 Bongon the two sachets allegedly sold by appellant, and PO3 Bongon immediately marked the sachets as RSB-1, RSB-2, and RSB-3, before handing them to SPO1 Antonio. The Court further noted that, upon receipt, SPO1 Antonio submitted the sachets to the crime laboratory, where Clemen received and tested them, yielding results positive for shabu. The Court therefore found the chain of custody sufficiently shown to be unbroken from the time PO3 Bongon possessed the specimens until laboratory testing, and eventually presentation in court.

The Court added that even absent a statement on the precise marking location, what remained crucial was that the seized specimens did not leave the custody of PO3 Bongon until he turned them over to SPO1 Antonio. It concluded that the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized shabu were properly preserved, and the crucial links were established without break.

The Court’s Ruling on the Alleged Lack of Agreement on Quantity

The Court also rejected appellant’s argument that the absence of testimony showing an agreement about the quantity of shabu negated the existence of a legitimate buy-bust. The Court held that the illegal sale did not depend on an agreement as to quantity and price because the offense was consummated upon the exchange of the illegal drug for the marked money. It therefore found Ebio’s testimony sufficient, particularly that appellant asked for the money before handing over the shabu and that Ebio r

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