GR 106213; (September, 1994) (Digest)
G.R. No. 106213 , September 23, 1994
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. CRISANTA SANTOS Y GADASA, accused-appellant.
FACTS
Accused-appellant Crisanta Santos was charged with the sale of marijuana. The prosecution evidence established that a buy-bust team was formed after reports of drug peddling. Posing as a buyer, SPO2 Vivencio Corpuz purchased two teabags of marijuana from Santos using marked money. Upon the pre-arranged signal, the team arrested Santos, recovered the marked money, and subsequently seized additional marijuana items from her house. The seized items tested positive for marijuana. Santos denied the charges, claiming the police conducted a warrantless search of her home while she slept and “planted” the evidence. She also argued the drugs belonged to her common-law husband, Bundoy.
ISSUE
The primary issues were: (1) the validity of the warrantless arrest and the subsequent search and seizure; (2) the sufficiency of the prosecution evidence to prove the sale of prohibited drugs; and (3) the propriety of the penalty imposed.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the penalty. The arrest was lawful under Rule 113, Section 5(a) of the Rules of Court, as Santos was caught in flagrante delicto selling marijuana to the poseur-buyer. The warrantless search of her house was valid as an incident to that lawful arrest, conducted within her immediate vicinity where she could have reached for weapons or evidence. The prosecution evidence, including the testimonies of the buy-bust team and the forensic chemist, was credible and sufficient to prove the sale beyond reasonable doubt. Santos’s denial and claim of frame-up were unsubstantiated.
Regarding the penalty, the Court applied the provisions of the then-recently enacted Republic Act No. 7659 , which amended the Dangerous Drugs Act. For the quantity of marijuana involved, which was less than 750 grams, the proper penalty under the law was prision correccional. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the Court modified the trial court’s sentence of life imprisonment to an indeterminate penalty of six (6) months of arresto mayor as minimum to six (6) years of prision correccional as maximum.