G.R. No. L-66389 September 8, 1986
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. TSANG HIN WAI, CHOI MING CHEUNG, and ANDY CHAN CHIWAI, defendants-appellants.

FACTS

The case involves the illegal importation of 2.8 kilograms of heroin into the Philippines. Accused-appellants Tsang Hin Wai and Choi Ming Cheung, British nationals from Hong Kong, arrived in Manila on the same flight from Bangkok. Tsang claimed an unaccompanied suitcase that had arrived a day earlier. Upon customs inspection, heroin was discovered concealed in a false bottom of this suitcase. Tsang was immediately apprehended. Based on information from Tsang, customs authorities located and arrested Choi Ming Cheung and Andy Chan Chiwai at a Manila hotel.
During custodial investigations by customs police and later by the Constabulary Anti-Narcotics Unit, all three accused gave detailed written statements confessing their involvement in a drug smuggling operation. However, at trial, they repudiated these statements, claiming they were extracted under duress and without the assistance of counsel. The trial court, agreeing that the confessions were obtained in violation of constitutional rights, declared them inadmissible as evidence. Nevertheless, it convicted Tsang and Choi based on other direct evidence, finding they physically brought the heroin into the country, and sentenced them to death. Andy Chan Chiwai was acquitted due to lack of corroborating evidence apart from his inadmissible confession.

ISSUE

The primary issue for review is whether the trial court correctly imposed the death penalty on the appellants for violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act, as amended.

RULING

The Supreme Court modified the penalty. It held that the trial court erred in imposing the death penalty. The Court distinguished the present case from prior doctrines stating that penalties under special laws are not subject to the Revised Penal Code’s rules on penalty application. Those prior cases involved special laws that explicitly granted the court discretion to determine the penalty within a prescribed range. The Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, as amended by P.D. No. 1683, contains no such explicit grant of discretion to the court.
Consequently, in the absence of an express grant of discretion within the special law itself, the provisions of the Revised Penal Code on the application of penalties are supplementary and must be applied. Applying Article 63 of the Revised Penal Code, which governs the imposition of penalties where the law prescribes a single indivisible penalty, the proper penalty is reclusion perpetua. The Court therefore modified the sentence imposed on Tsang Hin Wai to reclusion perpetua and a fine of P20,000.00. Regarding Choi Ming Cheung, the Supreme Court found the evidence against him, absent the inadmissible confessions, insufficient to prove conspiracy beyond reasonable doubt and reversed his conviction, ordering his acquittal.