PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

vs.
RAMIL DORIA DAHIL and ROMMEL CASTRO y CARLOS

G.R. No. 212196               January 12, 2015

Doctrine: The identity of the dangerous drugs should be established beyond doubt by showing
that the items offered in court were the same substances bought during the buy-bust operation.
This rigorous requirement, known under R.A. No. 9165 as the chain of custody, performs the
function of ensuring that unnecessary doubts concerning the identity of the evidence are
removed. "Chain of Custody" means the duly recorded authorized movements and custody of
seized drugs or controlled chemicals or plant sources of dangerous drugs or laboratory
equipment of each stage, from the time of seizure/confiscation to receipt in the forensic
laboratory to safekeeping to presentation in court for destruction. Such record of movements
and custody of seized item shall include the identity and signature of the person who held
temporary custody of the seized item, the date and time when such transfer of custody were
made in the course of safekeeping and use in court as evidence, and the final disposition.

Facts:

Dahil and Castro were charged with violation of Section 5, Article II of R.A. No. 9165 for
the sale of 26.8098 grams of marijuana. On November 14, 2002, Castro was arraigned and he
pleaded not guilty. Dahil, on the other hand, filed a motion for reinvestigation and his
arraignment was deferred. Trial ensued and the prosecution presented PO2 Arieltino Corpuz
(PO2 Corpuz) and SPO1 Eliseo Licu (SPO1 Licu), as witnesses. RTC discovered that Dahil was
never arraigned through inadvertence.

The accused were apprehended after the buy bust operation conducted by PDEA. Both
Castro and Dahil, together with the confiscated drugs, were brought by the buy-bust team to the
PDEA office. There, the seized items were marked by PO2 Corpuz and SPO1 Licu.
For the defense, Dahil claimed that on September 29, 2002, a tricycle driver came
looking for him after he had arrived home. He saw the tricycle driver with another man already
waiting for him. He was then asked by the unknown man whether he knew a certain Buddy in
their place. He answered that there were many persons named Buddy. Suddenly, persons
alighted from the vehicles parked in front of his house and dragged him into one of the vehicles.
He was brought to Clark Air Base and was charged with illegal selling and possession of
marijuana. For his part, Castro testified that on September 29, 2002, he was on 4th Street of
Marisol, Barangay Ninoy Aquino, Angeles City, watching a game of chess when he was
approached by some men who asked if he knew a certain Boy residing at Hardian Extension.
He then replied that he did not know the said person and then the men ordered him to board a
vehicle and brought him to Clark Air Base where he was charged with illegal possession of
marijuana.
The RTC found both accused liable for violating Sections 5 and 11 of R.A. No. 9165.
The marked money was lost in the custody of the police officers, but the RTC ruled that the
same was not fatal considering that a photocopy of the marked money was presented and
identified by the arresting officers. It did not give credence to the defense of frame-up by Dahil
and Castro explaining that it could easily be concocted with no supporting proof. The CA
affirmed the decision of the RTC.

Issue:
Whether or not the law enforcement officers substantially complied with the chain of custody
procedure required by R.A. No. 9165.

Ruling:
The strict procedure under Section 21 of R.A. No. 9165 was not complied with. The
prosecution failed to establish that the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized items were
preserved.

Notwithstanding the failure of the prosecution to establish the rigorous requirements of

Section 21 of R.A. No. 9165, jurisprudence dictates that substantial compliance is sufficient.
Failure to strictly comply with the law does not necessarily render the arrest of the accused
illegal or the items seized or confiscated from him inadmissible. The issue of non-compliance
with the said section is not of admissibility, but of weight to be given on the evidence. Moreover,
Section 21 of the IRR requires "substantial" and not necessarily "perfect adherence," as long as
it can be proven that the integrity and the evidentiary value of the seized items are preserved as
the same would be utilized in the determination of the guilt or innocence of the accused.

The Court identified the links that the prosecution must establish in the chain of custody
in a buy-bust situation to be as follows: first, the seizure and marking, if practicable, of the illegal
drug recovered from the accused by the apprehending officer; second, the turnover of the illegal
drug seized by the apprehending officer to the investigating officer; third, the turnover by the
investigating officer of the illegal drug to the forensic chemist for laboratory examination; and
fourth, the turnover and submission of the marked illegal drug seized by the forensic chemist to
the court.

First link: Marking of the Drugs Recovered from the Accused by the Apprehending Officer

In the present case, PO2 Corpuz and SPO1 Licu claimed that they had placed their
initials on the seized items. They, however, gave little information on how they actually did the
marking. It is clear, nonetheless, that the marking was not immediately done at the place of
seizure, and the markings were only placed at the police station based on the testimony of PO2
Corpuz.
Worse, not all of the seized drugs were properly marked. As noted by the RTC, Exhibit
B-3 RC RD,39 Exhibit A-5 RC RD and Exhibit A-6 RD RC 40 did not have the initials of the
apprehending officers on the back. Bearing in mind the importance of marking the seized items,
these lapses in the procedure are too conspicuous and cannot be ignored. They placed
uncertainty as to the identity of the corpus delicti from the moment of seizure until it was
belatedly marked at the PDEA Office.

Second Link: Turnover of the Seized Drugs by the Apprehending Officer to the Investigating
Officer
The second link in the chain of custody is the transfer of the seized drugs by the
apprehending officer to the investigating officer. Usually, the police officer who seizes the
suspected substance turns it over to a supervising officer, who will then send it by courier to the
police crime laboratory for testing.42 This is a necessary step in the chain of custody because it
will be the investigating officer who shall conduct the proper investigation and prepare the
necessary documents for the developing criminal case. Certainly, the investigating officer must
have possession of the illegal drugs to properly prepare the required documents.

The investigator in this case was a certain SPO4 Jamisolamin. 43 Surprisingly, there was
no testimony from the witnesses as to the turnover of the seized items to SPO4 Jamisolamin. It
is highly improbable for an investigator in a drug-related case toeffectively perform his work
without having custody of the seized items. Again, the case of the prosecution is forcing this
Court to resort to guesswork as to whether PO2 Corpuz and SPO1 Licu gave the seized drugs
to SPO4 Jamisolamin as the investigating officer or they had custody of the marijuana all night
while SPO4 Jamisolamin was conducting his investigation on the same items.

Third Link: Turnover by the Investigating Officer of the Illegal Drugs to the Forensic Chemist

From the investigating officer, the illegal drug is delivered to the forensic chemist. Once
the seized drugs arrive at the forensic laboratory, it will be the laboratory technician who will test
and verify the nature of the substance. In this case, it was only during his cross-examination that
PO2 Corpuz provided some information on the delivery of the seized drugs to Camp Olivas.
PO2 Corpuz kept possession of the seized drugs overnight without giving detailson the
safekeeping of the items. The most palpable deficiency of the testimony would be the lack of
information as to who received the subject drugs in Camp Olivas.

Fourth Link: Turnover of the Marked Illegal Drug Seized by the Forensic Chemist to the Court.

The last link involves the submission of the seized drugs by the forensic chemist to the
court when presented as evidence in the criminal case. No testimonial or documentary evidence
was given whatsoever as to how the drugs were kept while in the custody of the forensic
chemist until it was transferred to the court. The forensic chemist should have personally
testified on the safekeeping of the drugs but the parties resorted to a general stipulation of her
testimony. Although several subpoenae were sent to the forensic chemist, only a brown
envelope containing the seized drugs arrived in court.49 Sadly, instead of focusing on the
essential links in the chain of custody, the prosecutor propounded questions concerning the
location of the misplaced marked money, which was not even indispensable in the criminal
case.

The Court can only conclude that, indeed, there was no compliance with the procedural
requirements of Section 21 of R.A. No. 9165 because of the inadequate physical inventory and
the lack of photography of the marijuana allegedly confiscated from Dahil and Castro. No
explanation was offered for the non-observance of the rule. The prosecution cannot apply the
saving mechanism of Section 21 of the IRR of R.A. No. 9165 because it miserably failed to
prove that the integrity and the evidentiary value of the seized items were preserved. The four
links required to establish the proper chain of custody were breached with irregularity and
lapses.
Given the procedural lapses, serious uncertainty hangs over the identity of the seized
marijuana that the prosecution presented as evidence before the Court. In effect, the
prosecution failed to fully prove the elements of the crime charged, creating a reasonable doubt
on the criminal liability of the accused.

 WHEREFORE, the appeal is GRANTED.