Title
People vs. Flores
Case
G.R. No. 241261
Decision Date
Jul 29, 2019
Flores acquitted as prosecution failed to prove chain of custody integrity in drug case due to absence of required witnesses during inventory.
drug charges
acquitted
prosecution
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 241261)

Factual Background: The Buy-Bust Operation and the Seized Sachets

The prosecutions alleged that police officers successfully implemented a buy-bust operation against Flores on the evening of March 7, 2015, during which two (2) sachets with a total weight of 0.12 gram of a white crystalline substance were recovered from him. The buy-bust area was crowded because of a motocross contest. Due to the presence of many people, the police officers took Flores and the seized items to the police station.

At the police station, Flores was body-searched in the presence of two (2) barangay councilors, during which eight (8) more sachets were recovered from him, weighing a total of 0.43 gram. The police conducted marking, physical inventory, and photography of the seized items in the presence of Flores and the barangay councilors. The seized items were then submitted to the crime laboratory, and the examination yielded positive results for methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as shabu.

The Defense Theory

Flores denied the charges and claimed that he had gone to Ginatilan, Cebu to work as a make-up artist for a beauty pageant event at the town fiesta. He stated that while he was waiting for his brother at a gas station, a man in civilian clothes approached him on a motorcycle and instructed him not to move. After a patrol car arrived, Flores alleged that he was dragged to the municipal hall, where his bag was searched but no contraband was found.

Proceedings in the RTC and the Rationale for Conviction

In its August 25, 2016 decision, the RTC found Flores guilty beyond reasonable doubt. It relied on the positive testimonies of members of the buy-bust team to conclude that Flores sold two (2) plastic sachets containing shabu to the poseur-buyer. It further found that after Flores’ arrest, eight (8) additional plastic sachets containing shabu were found in his possession.

On evidentiary grounds, the RTC held that the prosecution substantially complied with the chain of custody rule, thereby preserving the integrity and evidentiary value of the drugs seized from Flores. Flores was sentenced in accordance with the RTC’s assessment of the statutory penalties for the two offenses. In Criminal Case No. OS-15-1031, Flores was sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay a P500,000.00 fine. In Criminal Case No. OS-15-1032, he was sentenced to an indeterminate term with a minimum of twelve (12) years and one (1) day and a maximum of twelve (12) years and one (1) month, and to pay a P300,000.00 fine.

Appeal to the CA and Affirmance

Flores appealed to the CA, which, in its March 23, 2018 decision in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 02404, affirmed the RTC’s ruling. The CA found that the prosecution had established the elements of the crimes charged and that there was sufficient compliance with the chain of custody rule.

The Issues Framed by the Supreme Court’s Review

On ordinary appeal, the Supreme Court focused on whether the prosecution proved, with the level of certainty required in dangerous drugs prosecutions, the identity of the seized drugs as the corpus delicti. In particular, the Court examined whether the prosecution accounted for each link of the chain of custody from seizure to presentation in court, as required to establish the integrity of the evidence beyond reasonable doubt.

The Court’s Core Legal Standards: Corpus Delicti and Chain of Custody

The Court held that in cases for Illegal Sale and/or Illegal Possession of Dangerous Drugs under RA 9165, the identity of the dangerous drug must be established with moral certainty, because the dangerous drug forms an integral part of the corpus delicti. The Court ruled that failure to prove the integrity of the corpus delicti renders the prosecution’s evidence insufficient to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, which warrants acquittal.

To establish the drug’s identity with the required moral certainty, the prosecution had to account for each link of the chain of custody, from seizure through presentation in court. The Court emphasized that marking, physical inventory, and photography of seized items must ordinarily be conducted immediately after seizure and confiscation. It recognized that marking upon immediate confiscation contemplates even marking at the nearest police station or office of the apprehending team. Thus, the Court ruled that failure to immediately mark at the place of arrest does not necessarily impair admissibility, provided marking at the nearest police station satisfies the rule.

The Court further reiterated the witness requirement under the law: inventory and photography must be performed in the presence of the accused (or his representative or counsel), and certain specified witnesses. Depending on the governing amendment by RA 10640, the relevant witnesses include, among others, an elected public official and either a representative of the National Prosecution Service or the media, with additional requirements under the pre-amendment scheme. The Court explained that these witnesses are required primarily to ensure the establishment of chain of custody and to remove suspicion of switching, planting, or contamination. Compliance is strictly enjoined because the rule has been treated not as a mere technicality but as a matter of substantive law, crafted as a safety precaution in view of the severe penalties imposed.

Nonetheless, the Court recognized that field conditions may make strict compliance difficult. It applied the saving clause found in Section 21 (a) of the IRR of RA 9165, later adopted in substance in the text of RA 10640, which provides that non-compliance may be excused if (a) there are justifiable grounds for the procedural lapse and (b) the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized items are properly preserved. The Court stressed that for the saving clause to apply, the prosecution must duly explain the reasons behind lapses and prove them as facts; the Court cannot presume justifiable grounds to excuse non-compliance.

The Court also required that non-compliance with the witness requirement could be permitted only if the prosecution proved that the apprehending officers exerted genuine and sufficient efforts to secure the presence of the required witnesses. It ruled that mere statements of unavailability, without actual serious attempts to contact the witnesses, were unacceptable.

Application to the Facts: Marking Timing and the Witness Requirement

The Court found that the police officers were justified in conducting markings, inventory, and photography at the police station rather than at the place of arrest because the area was crowded due to ongoing town fiesta activities in Ginatilan, Cebu.

However, the Court held that the prosecution failed to show that the inventory and photography were conducted in the presence of required representatives from either the DOJ or the media, as mandated by RA 9165, as amended by RA 10640. The Court noted that the Certificate of Inventory was signed only by two elected public officials. The Court also relied on the testimony of the poseur-buyer, Police Officer 2 Ruben Catubig (PO2 Catubig), which reflected that the required representatives were not present.

In testimony, PO2 Catubig stated that for inventory, the markings were made on the recovered pieces, and that barangay councilors of barangay San Roque were present, along with himself. When asked whether representatives from the media and DOJ were present, he answered that none were present and that it was “very hard to contact them,” adding that nobody answered their call and that the chief of police tried to contact a media representative but the latter could not come.

The Supreme Court held that the prosecution had the obligation to account for the absence of the required witnesses by presenting a justifiable reason or, at the very least, by showing genuine and sufficient efforts to secure their presence. It ruled that the excuse that it was “hard to contact” the DOJ representatives, without

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