Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81222:gr-191023-2013&catid=1567&Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 04:12:37+00:00

Document:
DON DJOWEL SALES y ABALAHIN, Petitioner, v.PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent.
Before us is a petition for review on certiorari assailing the Decision 1 dated September 30, 2009 and Resolution2 dated January 27, 2010 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR No. 31942. The CA upheld the judgment3 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Pasay City, Branch 231 finding petitioner Don Djowel Sales y Abalahin guilty beyond reasonable doubt of illegal possession of marijuana.
That on or about the 24th day of May 2003, in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused DON DJOWEL A. SALES, without authority of law, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously have in his possession, custody and control 0.23 gram of dried Marijuana fruiting tops, a dangerous drug.
Upon arraignment, petitioner duly assisted by counsel de oficio, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecution presented the testimonies of the following: PO1 Trota-Bartolome, P/Insp. Sandra Decena-Go (Forensic Officer, Chemistry Division, PNP-Crime Laboratory) and NUP Soriano.
WHEREFORE, all the foregoing considered, the Court finds the accused, Don Djowel Sales y Abalahin, GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Section 11, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165, also known as The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. Accordingly, he is hereby sentenced to suffer indeterminate penalty of imprisonment of twelve (12) years and one (1) day as minimum, to fourteen (14) years, eight (8) months and one (1) day, as maximum, and to pay a fine of Three Hundred Thousand Pesos (P300,000.00) without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.
The 0.23 gram of dried marijuana fruiting tops confiscated from the accused is hereby ordered forfeited in favor of the government. The officer-in-charge of this Court is hereby ordered to immediately turnover the same to the appropriate government agency for proper disposition in accordance with law.
On appeal, the CA ruled that the body search conducted on petitioner is a valid warrantless search made pursuant to a routine airport security procedure allowed by law. It found no merit in petitioners theory of frame-up and extortion. On the issue of the integrity and probative value of the evidence used to convict petitioner, the CA held that there is no hiatus or confusion that the marijuana that was marked at the airport, then subjected to qualitative examination on the same day and eventually introduced as evidence against petitioner, is the same prohibited drug that was found in his custody and possession when he was apprehended at the pre-departure area of the airport in the morning of May 24, 2003.
The CA also explained that while the "marijuana leaves" referred to by Soriano in his testimony was otherwise called by the public prosecutor and the Forensic Chemical Officer as "dried marijuana fruiting tops" in both the criminal information and the Laboratory Report, these do not refer to different items. Both marijuana leaves with fruiting tops were rolled in two papers which were actually found and seized from petitioners possession in the course of a routine security search and frisking.
In this case, the prosecution has satisfactorily established that airport security officers found in the person of petitioner the marijuana fruiting tops contained in rolled paper sticks during the final security check at the airports pre-departure area. Petitioner at first refused to show the contents of his short pants pocket to Soriano who became suspicious when his hand felt the "slightly bulging" item while frisking petitioner.
Petitioner concedes that frisking passengers at the airport is a standard procedure but assails the conduct of Soriano and PO1 Trota-Bartolome in singling him out by making him stretch out his arms and empty his pockets. Petitioner believes such meticulous search was unnecessary because, as Soriano himself testified, there was no beep sound when petitioner walked past through the metal detector and hence nothing suspicious was indicated by that initial security check. He likewise mentioned the fact that he was carrying a bundle of money at that time, which he said was not accounted for.
We find no irregularity in the search conducted on petitioner who was asked to empty the contents of his pockets upon the friskers reasonable belief that what he felt in his hand while frisking petitioners short pants was a prohibited or illegal substance.
The ruling in People v. Johnson was applied in People v. Canton18 where the accused, a female passenger was frisked at the NAIA after passing through the metal detector booth that emitted a beeping sound. Since the frisker noticed something bulging at accuseds abdomen, thighs and genital area, which felt like packages containing rice granules, accused was subjected to a thorough physical examination inside the ladies room. Three sealed packages were taken from accuseds body which when submitted for laboratory examination yielded positive results for methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu. Accused was forthwith arrested and prosecuted for illegal possession of a regulated drug.
The search of the contents of petitioners short pants pockets being a valid search pursuant to routine airport security procedure, the illegal substance (marijuana) seized from him was therefore admissible in evidence. Petitioners reluctance to show the contents of his short pants pocket after the friskers hand felt the rolled papers containing marijuana, and his nervous demeanor aroused the suspicion of the arresting officers that he was indeed carrying an item or material subject to confiscation by the said authorities.
Petitioner questions the integrity of the drug specimen supposedly confiscated from him at the airport by PO1 Trota-Bartolome. He maintains that there was no evidence adduced to assure that those items that reached the Chemist were the same items which were taken from him. This is crucial since the Chemist had said that the items were brought to her, not by the PNP officer, but another person (SPO2 Rosendo Olandesca of PDEA) who was not presented as witness.
After a thorough review of the records, we hold that the prosecution in this case has established by facts proved at the trial that the chain of custody requirement was not broken.
In the light of the testimonial, documentary and object evidence on record, the CA correctly concluded that the identity, integrity and probative value of the seized marijuana were adequately preserved. The prosecution has proved with moral certainty that the two pieces of rolled papers containing dried marijuana fruiting tops presented in court were the same items seized from petitioner during the routine frisk at the airport in the morning of May 24, 2003. Its presentation in evidence as part of the corpus delicti was therefore sufficient to convict petitioner.
As to the penalty imposed by the R TC, we find the same in order and proper.
WHEREFORE, the petition for review on certiorari is DENIED. The Decision dated September 30, 2009 and Resolution dated January 27, 2010 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR No. 31942 are hereby AFFIRMED and UPHELD.
1Rollo, pp. 27-41. Penned by Associate Justice Rosmari D. Carandang with Associate Justices Arturo G. Tayag and Michael P. Elbinias concurring.
7 Exhibit "I" (Booking Sheet/Arrest Report), folder of exhibits, pp. 9-10.
8 Also referred to as Hubilla in some parts of the records.
9 TSN, February 2, 2005, pp. 7-8, 12-13.
10 Exhibits "E" and "F," folder of exhibits, pp. 7-8.
11 TSN, April 16, 2008, pp. 3-12.
13 CA rollo, p. 28.
15 People v. Del Norte, G.R. No. 149462, March 29, 2004, 426 SCRA 383, 388.
16 401 Phil. 734 (2000).
18 442 Phil. 743 (2002).
19 From the US Supreme Court decision in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20 L. Ed. 2nd 889 (1968) cited in People v. Canton, id. at 756-757.
The Terry search or the "stop and frisk" situation refers to a case where a police officer approaches a person who is acting suspiciously, for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior in line with the general interest of effective crime prevention and detection. To assure himself that the person with whom he is dealing is not armed with a weapon that could unexpectedly and fatally be used against him, he could validly conduct a carefully limited search of the outer clothing of such person to discover weapons which might be used to assault him.
20 People v. Canton, id. at 757-758.
21 Castro v. People, G.R. No. 193379, August 15, 2011, 655 SCRA 431, 441.
23 Castro v. People, supra note 21, at 440.
24 People v. Bautista, G.R. No. 177320, February 22, 2012, 666 SCRA 518, 533.
25 People v. Rosialda, G.R. No. 188330, August 25, 2010, 629 SCRA 507, 520-521, citing People v. Rivera, G.R. No. 182347, October 17, 2008, 569 SCRA 879, 897-898.
26 Id. at 521, citing People v. Del Monte, G.R. No. 179940, April 23, 2008, 552 SCRA 627, 636.
27 People v. Manlangit, G.R. No. 189806, January 12, 2011, 639 SCRA 455, 469-470, citing People v. Rosialda, supra note 25, at 522.
28 TSN, February 2, 2005, pp. 6-10, 12-14.
29 Exhibit "D," folder of exhibits, p. 6.
30 Exhibit "D-2," id.; TSN, August 16, 2005, pp. 11-16, 33-43, 51-52, 58-60.
31 Exhibits "E" and "F," id. at 7-8; id. at 18-22.
32 G.R. No. 186131, December 14, 2011, 662 SCRA 574.
33 G.R. No. 184804, June 18, 2009, 589 SCRA 625, 647-648.
34 G.R. No. 145348, June 14, 2004, 432 SCRA 25, 32.
35 People v. Amansec, supra note 32, at 595.

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