Title
People vs. Mahinay
Case
G.R. No. 210656
Decision Date
Dec 7, 2016
Accused-appellant convicted for selling marijuana in a buy-bust operation; Supreme Court upheld conviction, citing preserved evidence integrity despite procedural lapses.
selling dangerous drugs
procedural requirements
integrity of seized items
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 210656)

Factual Background

The information charged that, on or about 25 June 2005, at approximately 4:30 p.m., in Sitio Mananga, Tabunoc, Talisay City, the accused-appellant, “with deliberate intent and without authority of law,” sold, delivered, or gave away to a poseur buyer ten (10) sticks of marijuana cigarettes, weighing 1.79 grams, a dangerous drug, without the required license of prescription.

Upon arraignment on 23 August 2005, the accused-appellant entered a negative plea. Pre-trial was terminated on the same date, and the case proceeded to trial.

Prosecution Evidence: The Buy-Bust Operation and the Seizure

The prosecution witnesses included SPO4 Reynaldo Vitualia (buy-bust operation head), PO3 Ramil Navarro (member of the buy-bust team), and PSI David Alexander T. Patriana (the forensic chemist who examined the seized specimen), along with other police officers whose participation was described during the operation.

The prosecution narrated that on 25 June 2005, at about 4:00 p.m., SPO4 Vitualia and the team were on duty at the police station located in Sitio Mananga, Tabunoc, Talisay City. The team received an information from an unnamed asset that the accused-appellant was allegedly selling marijuana near Mananga Bridge. After the information was received, the team conducted a briefing regarding the intended buy-bust operation.

As planned, a civilian asset served as the poseur buyer, while the team positioned itself strategically to observe the transaction. Around 4:30 p.m., approximately 15 meters away from the accused-appellant and the poseur buyer, the team observed the poseur buyer hand over the marked P100 bill to the accused-appellant. Immediately thereafter, the accused-appellant handed over the sticks of marijuana to the poseur buyer.

A pre-arranged signal followed: the poseur buyer scratched his head to indicate that the transaction had been completed. The buy-bust team then rushed to arrest the accused-appellant. During apprehension, the team also noticed another person who threw marijuana cigarette sticks while fleeing; that person was arrested and identified only as Vergas, and a separate case was filed.

After arrest, SPO4 Vitualia recovered the marked P100.00 bill from the accused-appellant. SPO4 Vitualia apprised the accused-appellant of the charge and recited the constitutional rights.

Within less than two minutes from the transaction, ten (10) sticks of marijuana cigarettes were recovered from the buy-bust operation and were personally received by SPO4 Vitualia from the poseur buyer. SPO4 Vitualia then marked the items as “RBM-1” to “RBM-10”, representing the accused-appellant’s initials, and the marked articles were offered as Exhibit “A”. SPO4 Vitualia also prepared a letter request for laboratory examination and brought it, along with the seized items, to the PNP Crime Laboratory.

PSI Patriana testified that the marijuana cigarettes were the items submitted for laboratory examination. He described the testing procedure and executed Chemistry Report No. D-905-2005, which yielded positive results identifying the substance as marijuana.

Defense Evidence: Denial, Alleged Planting, and Alternative Account

The defense presented the accused-appellant as a lone witness. He testified that he was waiting alone in the vicinity of Mananga Bridge for his daughter, who was allegedly delivering hanging rice (“palitaw”) at Tabunok Market. He said that two unknown persons approached him and gave him a P100 bill to buy marijuana. He claimed that upon receiving the money, he immediately returned it to them.

He further stated that one of the two persons was standing while the other was sitting. He alleged that the standing person informed them that police officers were rushing towards them, which prompted the sitting person to run away and throw a small plastic on the ground. He then testified that police officers arrived within about two minutes, arrested both the accused-appellant and the sitting person, and frisked and handcuffed them. He acknowledged that he was informed of the charge but denied selling marijuana. He claimed he buys scrap iron with his brother and that the evidence was planted on him.

Trial Court Proceedings and Conviction

After weighing the evidence, the Regional Trial Court rendered a decision on 29 January 2008 finding the accused-appellant guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Section 5, Article II of R.A. No. 9165. The trial court held that the prosecution proved the elements of the offense. It also ruled that the accused-appellant’s claim of ill-motive or evidence planting failed to overcome the presumption of regularity in the performance of police functions.

The trial court imposed life imprisonment and a fine of P500,000.00, confiscating the ten sticks of marijuana (Exhibit “A”) for proper disposition.

Appellate Review: The Court of Appeals’ Affirmance

On appeal, the accused-appellant argued that the trial court erred in convicting him because the police failed to comply with the procedural requirements under Section 21, Paragraph 1, Article II of R.A. No. 9165, particularly the conduct of inventory and photography, which he argued broke the chain of custody.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction in full. It held that the essential elements of illegal sale of dangerous drugs were satisfied. It found that the prosecution preserved the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized items by establishing an unbroken chain of custody from the buy-bust operation through seizure, recovery of marked money, forensic examination, and submission to court. It further ruled that non-compliance with the inventory and photography requirements did not automatically render the evidence inadmissible where justifiable grounds existed and the integrity of the evidence remained preserved.

Issues Raised on Further Appeal

Before the Supreme Court, the accused-appellant raised the principal assigned error that the appellate court erred in affirming his conviction for lack of proof beyond reasonable doubt due to alleged non-compliance with the procedures governing seizure and custody of drugs under Section 21 of R.A. No. 9165. He emphasized that there was no inventory and no immediate photographs of the seized marijuana cigarette sticks, which he claimed prevented the prosecution from establishing the unbroken links in the chain of custody.

He also argued that the failure to present the civilian asset who acted as poseur buyer violated his right to confront the person implicating him.

Supreme Court’s Ruling on Chain of Custody and Procedural Non-Compliance

The Supreme Court rejected the accused-appellant’s position. It relied on the statutory and implementing framework recognizing that inventory and photography were required, yet non-compliance could be excused under justifiable grounds if the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized items were properly preserved. The Court cited Section 21(a), Article II of the Implementing Rules and Regulations stating that the apprehending team with initial custody and control shall immediately conduct physical inventory and photograph the seized items in the presence of the accused or relevant representatives, with participation from media, the Department of Justice, and an elected public official required to sign copies of the inventory. However, the proviso explicitly allowed non-compliance where justified and where integrity and evidentiary value remained preserved.

Applying this principle, the Court held that failure to show that police officers conducted the required physical inventory and photographs did not ipso facto render the seized items inadmissible. It referenced jurisprudence under which deviations from procedural requirements did not automatically exonerate an accused when the evidence’s identity and integrity remained intact.

The Court reiterated the chain-of-custody links in a buy-bust setting as recognized in People v. Glenn Salvador citing People v. Kamad, namely: (first) seizure and marking (if practicable), (second) turnover to the investigating officer, (third) turnover to the forensic chemist, and (fourth) turnover and submission to the court.

The Supreme Court accepted the Court of Appeals’ finding that the prosecution established the unbroken chain of custody. It emphasized that SPO4 Vitualia testified that the ten sticks recovered from the poseur buyer remained in his custody from the time they were turned over until he marked them immediately after the accused-appellant’s arrest. It further considered the letter request for examination and its receipt by the PNP Crime Laboratory, and it credited PSI Patriana’s testimony and Chemistry Report No. D-905-2005 confirming the specimen’s identity and positive results for marijuana. It also treated the fourth link as supported by the forensic witness’s presentation of the procedure and findings during trial.

The Court stressed that in dangerous-drug cases, what mattered most was the untainted integrity and preservation of the evidentiary value of the seized articles, because these determined the innocence or guilt of the accused. Even with deviations in inventory and photography, the Court found that the prosecution had sufficiently proved the integrity, identity, quantity, and quality of the dangerous drug.

Proof of the Illegal Sale and Possession Elements

Apart from chain-of-custody compliance, the Supreme Court emphasized that non-compliance with rigid procedural rules under Section 21 of R.A. No. 9165 did not obliterate the illegal transaction when the evidence proved the sale. It reiterated that illegal sale required proof of the identity of the buyer and seller, proof of the object and consideration, and proof of delivery and payment.

In the case at bar, the Court found that prosecution witness PO3 Navarro testified that he saw the poseur buyer hand over the marked P100 bill to the accused-appellant, and that the accused-appellant in turn handed the poseur buyer ten stick

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