THIRD DIVISION
[G.R. No. 206925. April 23, 2014.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. CATHERINE BACSAL Y LEGERA, JANETH BACSAL Y LEGERA, AND ELVIE BASMAN Y DE GUZMAN, accused;
CATHERINE BACSAL Y LEGERA,accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Third Division, issued a Resolution dated April 23, 2014, which reads as follows: EHaASD
"G.R. No. 206925 (People of the Philippines v. Catherine Bacsal y Legera, Janeth Bacsal y Legera, and Elvie Basman y De Guzman, accused; Catherine Bacsal y Legera, accused-appellant). — On April 3, 2006 the City Prosecutor of Pasig charged the accused Catherine Bacsal y Legera alias "Cathy" (Cathy), Elvie Basman y De Guzman alias "Elvs" (Elvie), and Janeth Bacsal y Legera (Janeth) with the illegal sale of dangerous drug in violation of Section 5, 1st paragraph, Article II of Republic Act 9165 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Pasig City, Branch 70 in Criminal Case 14937-D. 1
The prosecution and the defense stipulated on the qualification of P/Sr. Insp. Richard Allan Mangalip, Forensic Chemical Officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Southern Police District Crime Laboratory Office 2 as forensic chemist. In addition, they stipulated that the Request for Laboratory Examination had been duly executed; 3 that it was brought to and received with the specimen at the PNP Crime Laboratory; that the Physical Science Report D-254-06S had been duly executed; 4 that the plastic sachet existed; and that its contents were the subject of laboratory examination. 5 Nonetheless, P/Sr. Insp. Mangalip testified and confirmed the stipulated matters.
PO2 Roderick Cayas of the Southern Police District Anti-Illegal Drugs unit testified that on March 29, 2006 he received a call from a female police "asset" who reported that accused Janeth had been selling shabu that she sourced from accused Elvie. The police formed a buy-bust team consisting of PO2 Cayas as poseur buyer, PI Dacanay, SPO3 Rey Millare, SPO1 Salvio de Lima, PO2 Gerald Marion Lagos, PO2 Darwin Boiser, and PO1 Johniel Estrada as back up.
When the police reached a place near Plaza dela Rosa, Bagong Tanyag, Taguig City, they saw their informer as well as accused Janeth and her sister, accused Cathy, standing on the street. The informer introduced PO2 Cayas to Janeth as the "scorer" or buyer. But they waited five minutes for accused Elvie to show up with a gram of shabu valued at P3,000.00.
PO2 Cayas handed over the P3,000.00 buy-bust money to accused Cathy who counted them. Accused Elvie then passed to him the sachet of shabu. PO2 Cayas pressed the pre-set button of the cellular phone in his pocket to automatically call back up officer Estrada. The rest of the team approached and assisted in arresting the three accused. PO2 Cayas recovered the marked money from Cathy. He then marked the sachet of shabu in the presence of the accused. The police brought the accused to the police unit's headquarters in Taguig City. 6
Accused Cathy testified that in the early afternoon of March 29, 2006 while she and accused Janeth, her sister, were waiting for a ride home, two men forced them into a dark van. They found another woman in the van, whom they later came to know to be accused Elvie. The men brought them to the Southern Police District in fort Bonifacio and falsely charged them with selling shabu.
Accused Elvie testified that in the afternoon of March 29, 2006 she and her 7-year-old daughter were waiting for a ride home when it suddenly rained, forcing them to take shelter in a store. Then six men came and compelled them to board a van. The men asked her if her name was Ernie and she said no. They questioned her daughter as well. The men then brought them to the Southern Police District office in Taguig. While there, they called her husband and asked him to produce P60,000.00 but he was unable to. She met her co-accused Cathy and Janeth only during their inquest. 7aCITEH
On September 8, 2009 the RTC found accused Janeth, Cathy, and Elvie guilty as charged and sentenced each of them to life imprisonment and a fine of P500,000.00. On appeal in CA-G.R. CR-HC 04244, the Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed in toto the September 8, 2009 Decision of the RTC, hence this appeal.
The accused contends that the prosecution failed to prove the required chain of custody of the seized drugs. But, as the CA found, the prosecution sufficiently established the integrity of the seized shabu. PO2 Cayas immediately marked the plastic sachet in the presence of the accused and this was turned over to SPO2 Zaldy Molina, the headquarters investigator. The seized item was then brought to the PNP Crime Laboratory in its heat-sealed transparent plastic container where its contents were tested and proved positive for methylampethamine hydrochloride or shabu. 8
WHEREFORE, the Court AFFIRMSin toto the Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-HC 04244 dated September 27, 2012 that in turn affirmed the Decision of the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City, Branch 70 in Criminal Case 14937-D dated September 8, 2009.
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) LUCITA ABJELINA SORIANODivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Records, pp. 1-2.
2. Id. at 8.
3. Id. at 9-10.
4. Id. at 35-36.
5. Id.
6. Id. at 201-202; TSN, July 24, 2007, pp. 5-17.
7. Id. at 202-203.
8. Records, pp. 8-10.