G.R. No. L-105326 December 28, 1994
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. VICTORINO PABLO AND IMELDA CUSTODIO, accused-appellants.

FACTS

Accused-appellants Victorino Pablo and Imelda Custodio were convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Manila for selling methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) in violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act and were each sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine. The prosecution evidence, primarily from Pat. Ramir Reciproco, established that a buy-bust operation was conducted based on an anonymous tip. Pat. Reciproco, accompanied by a confidential informant, was introduced to Pablo outside a disco pub. Pablo asked if he wanted to “score,” and upon affirmation, called Custodio, who provided one deck of shabu. Reciproco handed marked money to Pablo, who gave it to Custodio, and then received the shabu from Pablo. A pre-arranged signal led to their arrest, with the marked money recovered from Custodio and the substance later confirmed as shabu by the NBI.
The defense presented a starkly different version, claiming they were arbitrarily arrested without any drug transaction. Pablo testified he was merely buying a newspaper when forcibly apprehended, and Custodio was arrested after being awakened from sleep in the disco pub’s VIP room. They alleged that the evidence was planted and that they were mauled and subjected to an illegal strip search to coerce a confession.

ISSUE

The core issues were: (1) the credibility of the prosecution witness; (2) the legality of the search and seizure; (3) the existence of conspiracy; and (4) whether guilt was proven beyond reasonable doubt.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the penalty. The Court upheld the trial court’s assessment of witness credibility, noting that the alleged inconsistencies in Pat. Reciproco’s testimony were minor and did not undermine the core narrative of a legitimate buy-bust operation. The arrest was deemed lawful as it was effected during the commission of the offense (in flagrante delicto), and the subsequent search of Custodio, which yielded the marked money, was valid as incidental to a lawful arrest. The coordinated actions of Pablo and Custodio in completing the drug sale demonstrated conspiracy.
However, applying the retroactive favorable effects of the recently enacted R.A. No. 7659 , which amended the penalties under the Dangerous Drugs Act, the Court modified the sentence. Since the shabu sold weighed only 0.071 gram, far less than the 200-gram threshold for the heavier penalties, the proper penalty was reduced to prision correccional to reclusion temporal. With no modifying circumstances, the penalty imposed was prision correccional in its medium period. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, each appellant was sentenced to an indeterminate prison term of four (4) months and twenty (20) days of arresto mayor maximum as minimum, to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional medium as maximum.