l\epublit of tbe.tlbilippines ~upreme <!Court :!Manila THIRD DIVISION DECISION

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1 l\epublt of tbe.tlblppnes ~upreme <!Court :!Manla CERflFED ':J.E l_';)pv.---- " EDOV~N n dxt~: n cl erk n f C n n r t ~.JAN THRD DVSON PEOPLE OFTHE PHLPPNES, Plantff-Appellee, - versus - G.R. No Present: VELASCO, JR., J., Charperson, BERSAMN,* LEONEN, MARTRES, and GESMUNDO, ** JJ. AREL CAL YjELO y CONSADA, Promulgated: c::z:ter Accusfd-Appellant. 6, 207 x ~ ~-~:~---x MART/RES, J.:! ' DECSON Ths resolves the appeal of Arel Calvelo y Consada (Arel) from the 9 March 205 D~cson of the Court of Appeals (CA), Frst Dvson, n CA G.R. CR-HC '{o whch affrmed the 26 Aprl 203 judgment 2 of the Regonal Tral'! Court (RTC), Branch 28, Santa Cruz, Laguna, n Crmnal Case No. SCt 953 fndng hm gulty beyond reasonable doubt of Volaton of Secton (Sec.) 5, Artcle (Art.), of Republc Act (R.A.) No :l l THE FACTS Arel was charged before the RTC of Santa Cruz, Laguna, wth volaton ofsec. 5, Art. ofr.a. No. 965 commtted as follows:"" * On Offcal Leave ** On Leave Rollo, pp. 2-2; penned by Assocate Justce Rcardo R. Rosaro and concurred n by Presdng Justce; Andres B. Reyes, Jr. and Assocate Justce Edwn D. Sorongon. 2 Records, pp. 69' Penned by Presdng Judge lumnado M. Dela Pena. Enttled "An Act nsttutng The Comprehensve Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Repealng Republc Act No. 6425, otherwse known as The Dangerous Drugs Act of 972, as amended, Provdng Funds therefor, and for other Purposes" dated 7 June 2002.

2 Decson 2 G.R. No That on November 26, 2005 at about :00 o'clock n the evenng at Traveller's nn, Barangay Pagsawtan, Muncpalty of Santa Cruz, Provnce of Laguna and wthn the jursdcton of ths Honorable Court, the above-named accused, not beng authorzed and/or permtted by law, dd then and there wlfully, unlawfully, and felonously sell and delver to a poseur buyer three (3) heat sealed transparent plastc sachets contanng a total weght of 4.07 grams of METHAMPHETAMNE HYDROCHLORDE (shabu), a dangerous drug, n consderaton of two (2) Fve Hundred Peso blls marked money wth Seral Numbers SU32935 and FK52868, n volaton of the aforementoned law. CONTRARY TO LAW. 4 When arragned, Arel pleaded not gulty to the charge aganst hm, thus, tral on the merts ensued. The Verson of the Prosecuton! To prove ts case, the prosecuton presented P:olce Offcer 2 (P02) Martes T. Vllanueva (Vllanueva) and SP02 Gerry Abalos (Abalos). The testmony of the forensc chemst, Polce Senor nspector Donna Vlla P. Huelgas (Huelgas), was dspensed wth upon the defense's admsson that the prosecuton's purpose n presentng her was to dehtfy Chemstry Report No. D (report) and the shabu subject of her report. 5 On 25 November 2005, at about 9:00 a.m., a confdental nformant (nformant) came to the Phlppne Drug Enforcem~nt Agency (PDEA) at Camp Vcente Lm, Canlubang, Laguna, to nform thbm that he was able to make a drug deal for ffteen (5) grams of shabu worth P60, wth a certan Arel and Dosa. 6 Regonal Drector Abe Lemos (Lemos) referred the matter to team leader Polce Chef nspector Julus Ceasar Ablang (Ablang) who held a brefng on the role of each team member' and on the conduct of the survellance on Arel at the Travelers' nn located at Barangay Pagsawtan, Sta. Cruz, Laguna, to determne whether the place s ft for the proposed buy-bust operaton. Present durng the brefng were Polce Chef nspector Raul Bergamento, Ablang, Vllanueva, SP02 Marcelno Male, Abalos (Abalos), SPOl Jesus P. Platon, SPOl Mguel Laptan, Jr., P03 Andres lagan, and P03 Sherwn G. Bulan. Vllanueva, who would act as poseur-buyer, was gven two (2) fve-hundred-peso blls 7 and the boodle money whch she all marked "MTV" 8 representng her ntals, whle Abalos was assgned as the back-up arrestng offcer. On that'same day, Vllanueva, l'f Records, p.. Records, pp Varably referred to as Dosa and Dosang n the TSNs. Exhs. "F-" and "G-." Exhs. "F-2" and "G-2."

3 Decson 3 G.R. No Abalos, and the nformant proceeded to the Travellers' nn to survey the place. After the survey, Vllanueva and Abalos reported to ther offce that the place would be sutable for a buy bust operaton. Thereafter, the pre- 9 d 0 operat0n report was prepare. The fol~owng day, at about 5 :00 p.m., the nformant called Arel to tell hm he ateady had a buyer of the shabu; Arel repled that he was already preparjng the tems. The team, consstng of those who attended the earler brefng, and PO Carla Mayo, proceeded to Barangay Pagsawtan and arrved th~reat at about 8:00 p.m. Vllanueva and the nformant parked ther vehcle b front of the Travelers' nn whle the other vehcle carryng the rest of thejteam was strategcally parked ffteen (5) meters away from them.! J mmed~tely, the nformant called Arel to nform that he and the would-be buy~r of the shabu were already at the vcnty of the Travelers' nn. Arel repled that they were already preparng the shabu. At about 9:00 p.m., Arel ~ved on hs red trcycle wth plate number WJ 760. The nformant to~~j_arel to board the vehcle that he and Vllanueva rode n and ntroduced Ar;el to Vllanueva who, n tum, ntroduced herself as the buyer and was nterested n buyng 5 grams of shabu for P60, When Arel asked Vllanu~va f she had the money, she showed hm a maroon pouch supposedly cqntanng the payment but whch were actually only two marked P500.QO blls and the boodle money. When asked about the shabu, Arel sad he qd not brng t as he needed to confrm whether they had the money, as nstructed by Dosa. Thereafter, Arel got off the vehcle. 2 ' After an; hour, Arel returned to the Travelers' nn on board the same trcycle. He got on the same vehcle that Vllanueva and the nformant were n. Once nsde, Arel took from the rght front pocket of hs short pants three (3) transparent plastc sachets flled wth whte crystallne substance whch he handed to Vllanueva. When Arel demanded the payment, Vllanueva handed the boodle money; but before Arel could realze t was boodle money, Vllanueva turned on the hazard lghts of the vehcle, the prearranged sgnal that the transacton had been consummated. Abalos and the rest of the tea;n rushed to the vehcle and asssted Vllanueva n arrestng Arel. Abalos :recovered the buy-bust money from Arel and nformed hm of hs consttqtonal rghts. On the way to the PDEA offce, Vllanueva personally pla9ed the markngs Exh. "A" MTV 26//05, Exh. "B" MTV 26/05, and!exh. "C" MTV 26//05 on each of the three transparent plastc sachets./'p' Records p. 6; Efh. "l." TSN, 28 NovembFr 2006, pp. 2-8, -2; 9 March 20, pp TSN, 9 March 2op, pp TSN, 9 March 20~, pp. 0-2; Exh. "A." TSN, 8 Februl 200, pp. 20, 23; December200, p. 6; Exh. "A.".

4 Decson 4 G.R. No Arel was brought to the PDEA offce for proper dsposton and was photographed wth the confscated drugs. The bookng sheet and arrest report 4 were lkewse prepared. Hs true name was later dentfed as Arel Calvelo y Consada. 5 Vllanueva, as the poseur-buyer, and Abalos, as the arrestng offcer, executed ther respectve affdavts. ~ On 27 November 2005, at :40 a.m., the' three marked heated transparent sachets contanng the substance suspected as shabu, wth the sgnature of Vllanueva, were submtted by her and Abalos to the Chef, PNP Regonal Crme Laboratory Offce 4 (laboratory) for examnaton. 7 On the same day, the laboratory, through Huelgas, released the report 8 on the confscated tems. The pertnent porton of the report reads: SPECMEN SUBMTTED Three (3) heat-sealed transparent plastc sachets, each contanng most/whte crystallne substance of the followng markngs (wth sgnature) and net weghts: A (EXH A MTV 26//06)-4.7 grams B (EXH B MTV 26//06)-4.72 grams C (EXH C MTV 26//06) grams x-x-x x-x-x PURPOSE OF LABORATORY EXAMNATON To determne the presence of dangerous drugs n the abovementoned specmen. x-x-x x-x-x FNDNGS Qualtatve examnaton conducted on specmej A through C gave POSTVE result to the tests for the presence of Methamphetamne ' hydrochlorde, a dangerous drug. The Verson of the Defense Arel tred to prove hs defense through hs testmony and that of hs elder brother, Jmmy Calvelo (Jmmy). : Arel testfed that on 26 November 2005, at kround :00 p.m., he /" was about to close the bllard hall located at Baran;ay Bfan, Pagsanjan, Records, p. l O; Exh. "C." TSN, 7 March 2007, pp.3-4; Exh. "A." Records, pp. 6-9; Exhs. "A" and "B." Recor s, p.2. Recods, p.2; Exh. "D." 7 d 8

5 Decson 5 G.R. No l Laguna, wher~ he works as a spotter, when Jmmy arrved requestng that he buy hm noodl s from the Travelers' nn. He compled and rode a pedcab to the Travelers' ~nn. Whle watng for hs order, he got bored and went to the back porton ~f the establshment when, suddenly, fve armed men came shoutng at hrp "dapa, dapa, ~apa." Whl~ lyng down wth ~s face on the floor, somebo?y stepped on hs back whle another was saymg "handcuff, handcuff." Be7.,: ause there were no handcuffs, somebody ted hm up usng a belt and then f e was carred to a tnted vehcle. He was told "nahul ka na dn namn"; hµt when he asked why he was beng held, they asked for hs name nstead. ' jwhen he told them that hs name was Arel, they got mad at hm and askedjhm agan for hs name. He told them that hs name was Arel Calvelo. When the vehcle arrved at the Santa Cruz muncpal buldng, he was transferre<;l to another vehcle together wth Abalos, who pulled hs har and later got a key from hs (Abalos) pocket and scratched ths on Arel's head. 9 The vehcle he was made to board together wth fve other persons proceeded to the PDEA offce n Canlubang, Laguna. Whle nsde the vehcle, he was punched and ht on the head. Hs hands were unted and later handcuffed. He was brought nsde the PDEA offce where they asked hs name and told hm to cooperate. When he told them that he dd not know anythng, hs handcuffs were removed and he was ncarcerated. t was only at the Fscal' s offce that he knew he was beng charged wth volaton of Sec. 5, R.A. No He saw Vllanueva only at the PDEA offce. 20 He cam~ to know of Dosa when the latter was detaned at the Laguna provncal jalwhen he asked Dosa why he (Arel) was beng mplcated n the case, Dos~ nformed hm that the place hs (Arel's) brother was rentng was very near!the place where he (Dosa) was stayng. He also learned that Dosa's house Jwas located on the same street as the bllard hall where he worked. He was ncarcerated n 2005; Dosa n Jmmy tbstfed that on 26 November 2005, at around :00 a.m., he was at hs house located at Barangay Bnan, Pagsanjan, Laguna, dong overtme workjwhen he got hungry. He went to the bllard hall where Arel was workng apd asked ts owner, Melssa Maceda (Maceda) to allow Arel to buy noodle~ for hm at the Travelers' nn. Maceda allowed Arel to buy the noodles afth he closed down the bllard hall. Arel took a pedcab to the Travelers' nn. f 2 j When Arel faled to return after an hour, Jmmy went to the Travelers' nn fn.d asked.the peop~e around wh~ther they. had seen Arel. ~e was told by J~mor, a tncycle dnver, that Arel was pcked up by polce offcers. He w:nt to the Santa Cruz precnct but dd not fnd Arel there. /"'/ 9 20 TSN, 4 August 2p, pp. -7, 0. d.at7-0. : d. at -3. TSN, 24 November 20, pp : 22

6 Decson 6 G.R. No After three days, upon beng nformed that Arel had been apprehended by PDEA members, he went to the PDEA offce. 23 The Rulng of the RTC WHEREFORE, premses consdered, ths court fnds the accused AREL CALVELO y CONSADA GULTY BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT of Volaton of Secton 5, Artcle, R.A. 965 and he s hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of lfj mprsonment and to pay a fne of One Mllon Pesos (Pl,000,000.00)! The specmens of shabu subjects of ths case wth a total weght of 4.07 grams are ordered confscated n favour of the government and the Branch Clerk of Court s hereby ordered to transmt the same to the approprate government agency for proper dsposton. SO ORDERED. The Rulng of the CA The CA ruled that the prosecuton was able to establsh the dentty of Arel as the drug dealer and the manner by whch the llegal sale of the dangerous drug took place. t held that regardless pf whether Vllanueva acted as a mere bystander durng the transacton, she :stll had the oblgaton to apprehend Arel because she was a polce offcer n whose presence a crme was beng commtted. Grantng that she was a bystander, Vllanueva could testfy as to the transacton snce she was an eyewtness. On the clam of Arel that the nformant was not presented, the CA held that ths was not fatal to the case of the prosecuton snce the nformant's testmony was only corroboratve, thus, t may be dspensed wth. 24 The CA found that the chan of custody over the sezed drugs was mantaned by the apprehendng offcers, vz: Vllanueva marked and affxed her sgnature on the three heat-sealed transparent sachets handed to her by Arel. After the nventory of the sezed tems, Vllanueva and Abalos brought the tems to the laboratory for examnaton; a report from the laboratory confrmed that the most/whte crystallne substance on the three sachets tested postve for shabu. 25 The dspostve porton of the CA decson reads: WHEREFORE, premses consdered, the appeal fled by Arel Calvelo y Consada s DSMSSED. The Judgment ofthe Regonal Tral Court of Santa Cruz, Laguna, Branch 28 n Crmnal Case No. SC-953 s AFFRMED. /'4-23 d. at Rollo, pp d. at 8-9.

7 Decson l SO ORDERED. SSUES 7 G.R. No THE Tf~.AL COURT GRAVELY ERRED N GVNG FULL CREDENCE TO THE PROSECUTON'S VERSON DESPTE THE PATENT[ RREGULARTES N THE CONDUCT OF THE BUY-BUST OPERATON. THE TRAL COURT GRAVELY ERRED N CONVCTNG THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT OF THE CRME CHARGED DESPTE THE PROSECUTON'S FALURE TO ESTABLSH THE DENTTY AND NTEGRTY OF THE ALLEGED CONFSCATED DRUGS CONSTTUTNG THE CORPUS DELCT OF THE CRME. THE T~AL COURT GRAVELY ERRED N FNDNG THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT GULTY BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT OF THE CRME CHARGED. l OUR RULNG The apptal s wthout mert. The elements! of volaton of Sec. 5, Art. of R.A. No. 965 had bee' proven beyond reasonable dofbt. Contnu~ng accretons of jursprudence restate the requrements to secure a convron for llegal sale of dangerous drugs under Sec. 5, 26 Art. fo'( j 26 Secton 5. Sale,J Tradng, Admnstraton, Dspensaton, Delvery, Dstrbuton and Transportaton of Dangerous Qrugs and/or Controlled Precursors and Essental Chemcals. - The penalty of lfe mprsonment tq death and a fne rangng from Fve hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) to Ten mllon pesos (~0,000,000.00) shall be mposed upon any person, who, unless authorzed by law, shall sell, trade,! admnster, dspense, delver, gve away to another, dstrbute dspatch n transt or transport any da,gerous drug, ncludng any and all speces of opum poppy regardless of the quantty and purty nvolyed, or shall act as a broker n any of such transactons. The penalty of mprsonment rangng from twelve (2) years and one () day to twenty (20) years and a fne rangng from One hundred thousand pesos (Pl00,000.00) to Fve hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) shall be mposed upon any person, who, unless authorzed by law, shall sell, trade, admnster, dspense, delver, gve away to another, dstrbute, dspatch n transt or transport any controlled precursor and essental chemcal, or shall act as a broker n such transactons. f the sale, tradng, admnstraton, dspensaton, delvery, dstrbuton or transportaton of any dangerous drug ;;md/or controlled precursor and essental chemcal transpres wthn one hundred (00) meters from the school, the maxmum penalty shall be mposed n every case.

8 Decson 8 G.R. No of R.A. No. 965, vz: () the dentty of the buyer and the seller; (2) the object and the consderaton; and (3) the delvery o~ the thng sold and the payment therefor. 27 What s mportant s that the sale transacton of drugs actually took place and that the object of the transacton s properly presented as evdence n court and s shown to be :the same drugs sezed from the accused. 28 Arel was postvely dentfed by Vllanueva and Abalos durng the hearng as the drug seller. Accordng to Vllanueva, she had the opportunty to personally talk wth Arel when, on 26 November 2005, he boarded twce the vehcle she was rdng n, vz: the frst was at about 9:00 p.m. when she was ntroduced to hm as the buyer of 5 grams of shabu prced at P60, and she showed hm the maroon pouch contanng the alleged payment for such; and the second was when he returned after an hour to delver the shabu and to receve the payment. Abalos, assgned as the arrestng offcer, was nsde another vehcle that was strategcally parked away from Vllanueva's vehcle whch he saw Arel boardng twce. When Vllanueva turned on the hazard lghts, the prearranged sgnal that the transacton was already consummated, Abalos and hs companons rushed to the vehcle and arrested Arel. Abalos then recovered the buy-bust money from hm. Arel posts that t was the nformer, and not Vllanueva, who had personal knowledge of the alleged drug transactorl and was the poseurbuyer. He mantaned that Vllanueva was a mere by~tander whose sole and hearsay testmony could not be made the bass of h~ convcton. To prove hs pont, Arel cted the case of People v. Rojo, 29 where the Court found a fatal flaw n the prosecuton's evdence, among others, on how the alleged entrapment proceedngs took place; and n ts falure to present the nformant who would have been ts best wtness. 30 We do not subscrbe to Arel's poston. '4' For drug pushers who use mnors or mentally ncapactated ndvduals as runners, courers and messengers, or n any other capacty drectly connected to the dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essental chemcal trade, the maxmum penalty shall be mposed n every case. f the vctm of the offense s a mnor or a mentally ncapactated ndvdual, or should a dangerous drug and/or a controlled precursor and essental chemcal nvolved n!any offense heren provded be the proxmate cause of death of a vctm thereof, the maxmum penalty provded for under ths Secton shall be mposed. The maxmum penalty provded for under ths Secton shall be mposed upon any person who organzes, manages or acts as a "fnancer" of any of the llegal actvtes prescrbed n ths Secton. The penalty of twelve (2) years and one () day to twenty (20) years of mprsonment and a fne rangng from One hundred thousand pesos (Pl00,000.00) to Fve hundred thousand pesos (PS00,000.00) shall be mposed upon any person, who acts as a "protector/coddler" of any volator of the provsons under ths Secton. 27 Peoplev. Arce, G.R. No , 22 February People v. smael, G.R. No , 20 February Phl. 57, 58 (989). 3 CA rollo, pp

9 Decson 9 G.R. No Records show that t was Vllanueva who was the buyer n the subject transacton for the sale of shabu. The nformant merely acted as the mddleman between Vllanueva, as buyer, and Arel, as seller. As testfed to by Vllanueva and Abalos, on 26 November 2005, at about 5:00 p.m. at the PDEA offce, the nformant called up Arel to nform hm that he (nformant) already had a buyer, to whch Arel repled that he was already preparng the shabu. The followng day, the nformant called up Arel agan, ths tme to say that he and the would-be buyer were already at the Travelers' nn~ When they met, Vllanueva ntroduced herself as the buyer of the shabu. \\jhen Arel had made sure that Vllanueva had wth her the money to payj for the tems, he handed her the three transparent plastc sachets contajlng the shabu and she, n tum, handed hm the marked and boodle money~ Contr~ to Arel's clam, the factual mleu n Rojo s completely dfferent from ~he case at bar. n Rojo, t was the nformant who acted as the poseur-buyer ~f marjuana durng the buy-bust operaton. A member of the buy-bust team was postoned 5 to 7 meters away from the nformant whle the transacton; was takng place, whle two other members of the team were nsde ther ve~cle parked one hundred meters away from the scene. Durng the hearng n Rojo, the nformant who acted as buyer was not put on the wtrtess stand by the prosecuton. Hs dentty was not revealed for beng confdfntal nformaton. Sgnfcantly, the evdence of the prosecuton as to the nformant's partcpaton as buyer durng the entrapment prfceedng was contradctory, vz: a patrolman testfed that t was another p~trolman who acted as poseur-buyer; whle another patrolman testfed that tlwas the nformant who acted as such. The Court held that the fatal flaw n tlte prosecuton's evdence was ts falure to establsh how the alleged entrapment proceedngs took place, and to prove beyond reasonable doubt the actu~l partcpaton of the nformant durng the buy-bust operaton, thus, castng d~mbt on whether the entrapment proceedngs even took place. Compand wth ths case, Vllanueva had frst-hand knowledge of what transpred durng the transacton wth Arel. She actually dealt wth Arel,.e., from recevng the shabu from hm to her actual payment for the delvered tem. ndeed, the prosecuton was correct n presentng Vllanueva to fortfy ts case aganst Arel as she personally knew the detals of the transacton that took place on the nght of27 November Case law mparts the "objectve test" n a buy-bust operaton as follows: l We therefore stress that the "objectve" test n buy-bust operatons demands that the detals of the purported transacton must be clearly and adequately shown. Ths must start from the ntal contact between the poseur-bu\,er and the pusher, the offer to purchase, the promse or fj'f

10 Decson 0 G.R. No payment of the consderaton untl the consummaton of the sale by the delvery of the llegal drug subject of the sale. The manner by whch the ntal contact was made, whether or not through an nformant, the offer to purchase the drug, the payment of the "buy-bust" money, and the delvery of the llegal drug, whether to the nformant alone or the polce offcer, must be the subject of strct scrutny by courts to nsure that law-abdng ctzens are not unlawfully nduced to commt an offe;se. Crmnals must be caught but not at all costs. At the same tme, however, examnng the conduct of the polce should not dsable courts nto gnorng the accused's predsposton to commt the crme. f there s overwhelmng evdence of habtual delnquency, recdvsm or plan crmnal proclvty, then ths must also be consdered. Courts should look at all factors to determne the predsposton of an accused to commt an offense n so far as they are relevant to determne the valdty of the defense of nducement. 3 Evaluaton of the records applyng the "objectve test" wll prove that the prosecuton was able to establsh beyond moral certanty the detals of the transacton that took place between Vllanueva and Arel from the offer to purchase shabu untl the consummaton of the sale. Consequently, the clam of Arel that the poseur - buyer faled to present evdence on how the llegal drugs were recovered - rasng doubts about a buy-bust havng been actually conducted and warrantng a suspcon that the prohbted drugs were planted 32 - mserably weakened n the lght of the convncng and credble testmony of the prosecuton wtnesses. There was apparently no need for the pros~cuton to present the nformant f only to determne whether there was a p';ror drug deal between hm and Arel. The nformant's testmony would o4ly corroborate that of Vllanueva and Abalos who both testfed that the nformant contacted Arel ' on 26 and 27 November 2005 on the drug deal, and whch transacton ndeed took place when Arel actually delvered the shabj to Vllanueva on 27 November The sale, to stress, was between Ar~l and Vllanueva. We quote our rulng n People v. Bartolome, 33 vz:. Smlarly, the presentaton of an nformant as a wtness s not regarded as ndspensable to the success of a prosecuton of a drug-dealng accused. As a rule, the nformant s not presented n court for securty reasons, n vew of the need to protect the nformant from the retalaton of the culprt arrested through hs efforts. Thereby, the confdentalty of the nformant's dentty s protected n deference to hs nvaluable servces to law enforcement. Only when the testmony of the nfonhant s consdered absolutely essental n obtanng the convcton of the'. culprt should the need to protect hs securty be dsregarded. ' t s underscored that factual fndngs of the tral court, ncludng ts assessment of the credblty of the wtnesses and the probatve weght thereof, as well as the conclusons of the tral court based on ts factual fl'! People v. Dora, 36 Phl. 595,62 (999). CA rollo, p Phl. 48, 64 (203).

11 Decson G.R. No fndngs, are ~ccorded hgh respect, f not conclusve effect, especally f affrmed by tpe CA, except when facts or crcumstances of weght and nfluence were overlooked or the sgnfcance of whch was msapprecated or msnterpreted by the lower courts. 34 The record s bereft of any showng that Arel was lab le to persuasvely brng hs case wthn the jursprudentally establshed exbepton to the rule; hence, we defer to the factual fndngs of the R TC n th,b absence of any compellng cause or mpetus to dsturb the same. There was anlunbroken chan of custody of 'e sezed drugs. J n all prosecutons for volatons of R.A No. 965, the corpus delct s the 4angerous drug tself. 35 The corpus delct s establshed by proof that the dentty and ntegrty of the subject matter of the sale,.e., the prohbted or regulated drug, has been preserved; 36 hence, the prosecuton must establsh,beyond reasonable doubt the dentty of the dangerous drug to prove ts case aganst the accused. The prosecuton can only fores tall any doubts on the dentty of the dangerous drug sezed from the accused to that whch was presented before the tral court f t establshes an unbroken chan of custody over the sezed tem. The prosecuton must be able to account for each lnk n the chan of custody over the dangerous drug, from the moment of sezure up to ts presentaton n court as evdence of the corpus delct. 37 n other words, t must be establshed wth unwaverng exacttude that the dangerous drug presented n court as evdence aganst the accused s the same as that sezed from hm n the frst place. 38 n Sec. Hb) of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Regulaton No., Seres of 200*, 39 the DDB - the polcy-makng and strategy-formulatng body n the p,annng and formulaton of polces and programs on drug preventon anq control and tasked to develop and adopt a comprehensve, ntegrated, unped and balanced natonal drug abuse preventon and control strategy 40 - ha$ defned chan of custody nvolvng the dangerous drugs and other substances n these followng terms: b. "Chan jof Custody" means the duly recorded authorzed movements and custody qf sezed drugs or controlled chemcals or plant sources of dangerou~ drugs or laboratory equpment of each stage, from the tme of " sezure/cdpfscaton to recept n the forensc laboratory to safekeepng to presentatr n court for destructon. Such record of movements and 34 People v. Dela Rena, 754 Phl. 323, 338 (205). 35 People v. JaafaA G.R. No , 8 January People v. Amer{, G.R. No , 4 November Santos v. Peopl~ G.R. No , 4 November People v. Tama~o, G.R. No , 6 December Gudel_nes on tj\e Custody and Dspost~n of Sezed Dangerous _Drugs, Co~trolled Precursors a nd Essental Chem~cals, and Laboratory Equrpment pursuant to Sect0n 2, Artcle of the RR of RA No. 965 n relaton to Secton 8l(b), Artcle X of RA No ' Sec. 77, R.A. N

12 Decson 2 G.R. No custody of sezed tem shall nclude the dentty and sgnature of the person who held temporary custody of the sezed tem, the date and tme when such transfer of custody were made n the course of safekeepng and use n court as evdence, and the fnal dsposton. 4 ' Sec n R.A. No. 965 provdes the specfc manner on the custody and dsposton of sezed drugs and paraphetnala, whch s further elaborated n ts mplementng Rules and RegJlatons 43 (RR). t s understandable that the legslature had taken great pans n provdng for Sec. 2 n R.A. No. 965 as to the manner by whch t~e sezed tems shall be kept and dsposed of as ths wll be the safety precauton aganst potental abuses by law enforcement agents who mght fal to apprecate the gravty of the penaltes faced by those suspected to be nvolved n the sale, use or possesson of llegal drugs. 44 n consonance wth DDB's defnton of chan of custody, judcal pronouncement 45 dctated ts meanng as follows: Chan of custody s defned as "the duly recorded autborzed movements and custody of sezed drugs or controlled chemcals or plant sources of dangerous drugs or laboratory equpment of each stage, from the tme of sezure/confscaton to recept n the forensc laboratory to safekeepng to presentaton n court for destructon." Such record of movements and custody of sezed tem shall nclude the dentty and sgnature of the person who held temporary custody of the sezed tem, the date and tme when such transfer of custody were made n the course.of safekeepng and use n court as evdence, and the fnal dsposton. t must be consdered dentfable and are hghly that narcotc substances are not readly susceptble to alteraton, tamperng or j/jtf People v. Gonzales, 708 Phl. 2, 32 (203). Secton 2. Custody and Dsposton of Confscated, Sezed, and/or Surrendered Dangerous Drugs, Plant Sources of Dangerous Drugs. Controlled Precursors and Essental Chemcals, nstruments/paraphernala and/or Laboratory Equpment. - The PDEA shall take charge and have custody of all dangerous drugs, plant sources of dangerous drugs, controlled precursors and essental chemcals, as well as nstruments/paraphernala and/or laboratory equpment so confscated, sezed and/or surrendered, for proper dsposton n the followng manner: () The apprehendng team havng ntal custody and control of the drugs shall, mmedately after sezure and confscaton, physcally nventory and photograph the same n the presence of the accused or the person/s from whom such tems were confscated and/or sezed, or hs/her representatve or counsel, a representatve from the meda and the Department of Justce (DOJ), and any elected publc offcal who shall be requred to sgn the copes of the nventory and begven a copy thereof; The apprehendng offce/team havng ntal custody and control of the drugs shall, mmedately after sezure and confscaton, physcally nventory and photograph the same n the presence of the accused or the person/s from whom such tems were confscated and/or sezed, or hs/her representatve or counsel, a representatve from the meda and the Department of Justc~ (DOJ), and any elected publc offcal who shall be requred to sgn the copes of the nventory and belgven a copy thereof: Provded, that the physcal nventory and photograph shall be conducted at the place where the search warrant s served; or at the nearest polce staton or at the nearest offce of the apprehendng offcer/team, whchever s practcable, n case of warrantless sezures; Provded, further that non-complance wth these requrement" under justfable grounds, as long as the ntegrty rlnd the evdentary value of the sezed tems are properly preserved by the apprehendng offcer/team, ~hall not render vod and nvald such sezures of and custody over sad tems. Rontos v. People, 70 Phl. 328, 335 (203). People v. Amerl, Supra note 36.

13 Decson l 3 G.R. No contamnaton! 46 Thus, there are lnks that must be establshed n the chan of custody n a buy-bust stuaton, vz: frst, the sezure and markng, f practcable, of the llegal drug recovered from the accused by the apprehendng bffcer; second, the turnover of the llegal drug sezed by the apprehendng offcer to the nvestgatng offcer; thrd, the turnover by the nvestgatng offcer of the llegal drug to the forensc chemst for laboratory examnaton; fmdfourth, the turnover and submsson of the marked llegal drug sezed from the forensc chemst to the court. 47 The legal teachng on the frst lnk s as follows: The frst stage n the chan of custody s the markng of the dangerous drugs or related tems. Markng, whch s the affxng on the dangeroqs drugs or related tems by the apprehendng offcer or the poseur-buyer of hs ntals or sgnature or other dentfyng sgns, should ~e made n the presence of the apprehended volator mmeda~ely upon arrest. The mportance of the prompt markng cannot be dened~ because succeedng handlers of the dangerous drugs or related tems wl\ use the markng as reference. Also, the markng operates to set apart as eydence the dangerous drugs or related tems from other materal from the jmoment they are confscated untl they are dsposed of at the close of the crmnal proceedngs, thereby forestallng swtchng, plantng, or contan}naton of evdence. n short, the markng mmedately upon confscat,on or recovery of the dangerous drugs or related tems s ndspen~able n the preservaton of ther ntegrty and evdentary value. 48 j l Vllanubva testfed that mmedately after the buy-bust operaton and on board the v ehcle on the way to the PDEA offce, she placed on each of the three sachets handed to her by Arel the markngs Exh. "A" MTV 26//05, Exh. "B" MTV 26/05, and Exh. "C" MTV 26//05 and affxed her sgf ature thereon. The markngs were made by Vllanueva n the presence of t"el snce they were on board the same vehcle. Records lkewse sho': ja certfcate of nventory 49 sgned by Ablang as team leader, and wth elect~d publc offcal A. Panglnan and meda representatve Bell Desolo, as wtjlesses to the nventory. The certfcate of nventory denoted the followng sbzed tems durng the buy-bust operaton, to wt: THREE (~) PECES OF HEAT-SEALED TRANSPARENT PLASTC SACHETj CONTANNG WHTE SUBSTANCE OF SUSPECTED SHABU MARKED EXH. "A," "B," AND "C" "MTV" 26//05 WTH THE SGNATURE OF THE POSEUR-BUYER ONE () KAWASAK 25 c.c. (COLORED RED) WTH SDECAR (COLORED BLUE) PLATE NO. WJ 760 jhtlf 46 People v. Jaafar, Supra note People v. Vllar, G.R. No , 9 November d. 49 Records, p. 5; Exh. "E."

14 Decson 4 G.R. No TWO (2) PECES OF FVE HUNDRED PESO BLL (P500.00) W SERAL NOS. SU32935 AND FK52868 USED AS MARKED MONEY TOGETHER WTH SEVERAL PECES OF BOODLE MONEY N THE CONDUCT OF BUY-BUST OPERATON. On the second lnk, as the poseur-buyer and as a member of the buybust team, Vllanueva was n possesson of the drugs sezed from Arel. Vllanueva marked and affxed her sgnature on the sezed tems. The sezed tems dd not change hands, thus, there was no break n the second lnk. On the thrd lnk, Vllanueva and Abalos testfed that they were the ones who turned over to the laboratory for examnaton the "three (3) heatsealed transparent plastc sachets contanng whte crystallne substance suspected to be shabu wth markng EXH 'A' to 'C' 'MTV' 26//05 and sgnature of the poseur-buyer." The memorandum 50 of Lemos contanng the request for examnaton showed that ths, together wth the sezed drugs, was receved by the laboratory on :40 a.m. on 27 November 2005, or about two hours from the actual buy-bust operaton. The persdn from the laboratory who receved the memorandum and the confscated drugs affxed hs sgnature on the memorandum and even assgned a control number for the request. On the same day, Huelgas released her report on the qualtatve examnaton on the specmens. On the fourth lnk, Huelgas was no longer put on the wtness stand wth the admsson by the defense that her testmpny would be on the dentfcaton of her report and the sezed drugs. 5 ; rrefragably, the prosecuton was able to convncngly establsh an unbroken chan n the custody of the sezed drugs nl complance wth Sec. 2, Art., R.A. No. 965 and ts RR; hence, the ntegrty and evdentary value of the confscated drugs had not been compromsed. On the one hand, there s an enlghtened precedent 52 to serve as gude relevant to the persstent allegatons of the accused-appellant on the alleged falure of the polce offcers to strctly comply wth Sec. 2, Art., R.A. No. 965, and consequently render the sezed drugs as nadmssble, vz: l From the pont of vew of jursprudence, we are not beatng any new path by holdng that the falure to undeake the requred photography and mmedate markng of sezed tems may be excused by the unque crcumstances of a case. n People v. Resurreccon, we already stated that ''markng upon mmedate confscaton" does not exclude the possblty that markng can be at the polce staton or offce of the apprehendng tean. n the cases of People v. Rusana, People v. Hernandez. and People v. Gum-Oyen, the apprehendng team marked the confscated tems at the /J)AJ 50 d. at 9..,.., 5 52 d. at People v. Alcala. 739 Phl. 89, 202(204).

15 Decson 5 G.R. No polce sta;hon and not at the place of sezure. Nevertheless, we sustaned the convcton because the evdence showed that the ntegrty and evdentar.y value of the tems sezed had been preserved. To reterate what we have held n past cases, we are not always lookng for the strct step-by-sfep adherence to the procedural requrements; what s mportant s to ensure the preservaton of the ntegrty and the evdenta~ value of the sezed tems, as these would determne the gult or! nnocence of the accused. We succnctly explaned ths n People\ v. Del Monte when we held: WJe would lke to add that noncomplance wth Secton 2 of sad law, partcularly the makng of the nventory and the photographng of the drugs confscated-and/or sezed, wll not re)lder the drugs nadmssble n evdence. Under Secton 3 of Rtle 28 of the Rules of Court. evdence s admssble when t s re~evant to the ssue and s not excluded by the law or these rules. For evdence to be nadmssble, there should be a law or m!e whch forbds ts recepton. f there s no such law or rule, the j 'dence must.be admtted subject only to the evdentary weght twll [be] accorded t by the courts.xx x e do not fnd any provson or statement n sad law or n any ru)e that wll brng about the non-admssblty of the cop.fscated and/or sezed drugs due to noncomplance wth S~cton 2 of Republc Act No The ssue therefore, f there s noncomplance wth sad secton, s not of admssblty, but of weght - evdentary mert or probatve value - to be gven the evdence. The weght to be gven by the courts on sad ev~dence depends on the crcumstances obtanng n each case. (ctatons omtted) The evdence on record heavly weghs n favour of the presumpton of regularty n the performance of offcal duty. Arel asserted that the presumpton of regularty n the performance of offcal duty by tself cannot overcome the presumpton of nnocence or consttute proof beyond reasonable doubt. 53!! t canno{ be overemphaszed that n cases nvolvng volatons of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, as amended, credence should be gven to the narraton of th~ ncdent by the prosecuton wtnesses especally when they are polce offcers who are presumed to have performed ther dutes n a regular manne~, unless there s evdence to the contrary. 54 The presumpton, rebuttable by affrmatve evdence of rregularty or of any falure to perform a duty, s based on three fundamental reasons, namely:frst, nnocence, and not wrongdon!g, s to be presumed; second, an offcal oath wll not be volated; and, trd, a republcan form of government cannot survve long l'f 53 ' 54 CA rollo, p. 58. J People v. Alcala supra note 52.

16 Decson 6 G.R. No unless a lmt s placed upon controverses and certa~n trust and confdence reposed n each governmental department or agent by every other such department or agent, at least to the extent of such presumpton. 55 Arel faled to show any convncng evdence tb warrant a fndng that the polce offcers had not performed ther offcal dutes n the manner prescrbed by law. ndeed, there was no shred of evdence that would even remotely ndcate that the polce offcers had ll motve to ascrbe to Arel the commsson of a grave crme. Absent any dear showng that the arrestng offcers had ll motve to falsely testfy aganst the appellant, ther testmones must be respected and the presumpto'n of regularty n the performance of ther dutes must be upheld. 56 n stark contrast to ths presumpton, the self-servng denal of Arel faled to put a dent on the prosecuton's evdence. Arel, to stress, was caught n flagrante delcto n a legtmate buy-bust operaton. Hs defense of denal or frame-up has been nvarably vewed wth dsfavor for t can easly be concocted and s a common defense ploy n prosecutons for volaton of R.A. No WHEREFORE, all premses consdered, the Decson of the Court of Appeals n CA-G.R. CR-HC No s hereby AFFRMED. SO ORDERED. s UE~RTRES As'.socate Justce r People v. Reyes, G.R. No. 9927, 9 October 206, ctng People v. Mendoza, 736 Phl. 749, 769 (204). People v. Fundales, Jr., 694 Phl. 322, 337 (202). People v. Tapugay, 753 Phl. 570, (205).

17 Decson 'j WECtjNCUR: 7 G.R. No J. VELASCO, JR. ocate Justce Charperson (On Offcal Leave) LUCAS:P. BERSAMN Assocate Justce ~~ C M.V.F. LEONEN,,, Assocate Justce ''-.,,_ (On Leave) ALEXANDER G. GESMUNDO Assocate Justce ATTESTATON attest t~at the conclusons n the above Decson had been reached n consultaton b~fore the case was assgned to the wrter of the opnon of the Court's Dvs6n. ' PRESBTERO J. VELASCO, JR. Charpefson, Thrd Dvson

18 Decson 8 G.R. No CERTFCATON Pursuant to Secton 3, Artcle V of the Consttuton and the Dvson Charperson's Attestaton, certfy that the conclusons n the above Decson had been reached n consultaton. before the case was assgned to the wrter of the opnon of the Court's Dvson. ; MARA LOURDES P.A. SERENO Ch'ef Justce. ' ~ 0. '. z~:;~~..,~j ~::-,.\;:-- ~ l ', '~ <.f ~ ~.. ~,. rt,,,. r. ~ fl ;.. ~ /,, < J) : coj ~ '.'('Q Jllv J.,.. u.u