4/16/2021
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THIRD DIVISION
[ G.R. No. 243941, March 11, 2020 ]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, V. SAMIAH S.
ABDULAH, ACCUSED-APPELLANT.
DECISION
LEONEN, J.:
Deviations from the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act’s chain of custody
requirements are permitted only on the strictest and most exceptional grounds. It is
the burden of law enforcers to declare and demonstrate not only the specific reasons
impelling them to deviate from the law, but also the concrete steps they took to ensure
the integrity and evidentiary value of items allegedly seized.
Cursory and shallow averments of unsafe conditions premised on the profile of a given
locality's population reveals indolence, if not bigotry. Such trite references fall woefully
short of the law's lofty standards and cast doubt on the conduct of buy-bust operations.
They justify the acquittal of those whose prosecutions are anchored on noncompliant
police operations.
For this Court's resolution is a Notice of Appeal[1] assailing the Decision[2] of the Court
of Appeals, which affirmed the Regional Trial Court Decision[3] convicting Samiah S.
Abdulah (Abdulah) of the illegal sale of dangerous drugs.
In an Amended Information, Abdulah and another accused, a child in conflict with law
identified as "EB," were charged with violating Section 5[4] of Republic Act No. 9165. It
reads:
That on or about the 21st day of November 2014, in the City of Marikina,
Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the abovenamed child in conflict with the law (CICL) EB*, a seventeen (17) year old
minor at the time of the commission of the crime, acting with discernment
and SAMIAH S. ABDULLAH (sic), conspiring and confederating together, they
mutually helping and aiding each other, did then and there willfully,
unlawfully, and knowingly sell, deliver and give away without authority from
law to PO3 ERICH JOEL TEMPORAL, of the District Anti-Illegal Drug-Special
Operation Task Group (DAIDSOTG), Eastern Police district of Pasig City,
posing as a buyer, one (1) small heat-sealed plastic sachet containing 0.25
gram of white crystalline substance marked with "EJT 11/21/14 BUY BUST",
which gave positive result to the test for Methamphetamine Hydrochloride, a
dangerous drug, in violation of the above-cited law.
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66117
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