GR 119619; (December, 1996) (Digest)
G.R. No. 119619 December 13, 1996
RICHARD HIZON, ET AL., petitioners, vs. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS and THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioners, the owner, crew, and fishermen of F/B Robinson, were charged with illegal fishing using sodium cyanide, penalized under P.D. No. 704. On September 30, 1992, authorities, acting on reports of illegal fishing, apprehended the vessel within Puerto Princesa’s coastal waters. An inspection revealed a large quantity of live fish aboard. The following day, samples were taken from the vessel’s fish cage and submitted for laboratory examination. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) forensic analysis, conducted on October 7, 1992, found the fish samples positive for sodium cyanide. Petitioners were convicted by the trial court, and the conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
ISSUE
Whether the prosecution proved the guilt of the petitioners beyond reasonable doubt for illegal fishing with the use of obnoxious or poisonous substance.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction. The legal logic centered on the failure of the prosecution to establish an unbroken chain of custody for the fish samples, which is crucial for proving the corpus delicti of the offense. The evidence revealed a broken chain: the samples were taken from the boat’s fish cage, not directly from the sea; they were placed in a plastic bag without water by the apprehending officer, causing them to die; they were stored in a freezer for days; and they were transported to Manila by a person not officially tasked as evidence custodian. These gaps in the chain of custody created reasonable doubt as to whether the fish examined were the same fish allegedly caught illegally and whether they were contaminated. Furthermore, the positive finding for cyanide was rendered unreliable because the substance is water-soluble, and the tests were conducted on dead fish that had been decomposing for several days, making it impossible to determine if the cyanide was present at the time of capture or was a product of post-mortem contamination. Consequently, the indispensable element of using a poisonous substance in fishing was not proven beyond reasonable doubt.