G.R. No. L-68523-24 November 10, 1986
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. WILLIAM ESLABON y MARTINEZ, WILSON ESLABON y MARTINEZ, and ROMAN BITAUAG y LACANGAN, defendants-appellants.

FACTS

The accused-appellants, William Eslabon, Wilson Eslabon, and Roman Bitauag, were charged with Illegal Possession of Firearms and Drug Pushing. They were acquitted of the firearms charge but convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Aparri, Cagayan, for violating the Dangerous Drugs Act. The prosecution evidence established that on July 18, 1983, a team of Philippine Constabulary soldiers, acting on a report, conducted a test-buy operation. Posing as buyers, they went to the Eslabon residence, where William instructed Bitauag to retrieve five sticks of marijuana cigarettes from inside a room. These were delivered to the poseur-buyer in exchange for a marked twenty-peso bill, which Wilson received. The accused also provided two additional sticks, which all present sampled.
Following the successful buy-bust, a raiding team returned to the house. William initially resisted by pointing a sub-machine gun at the officers but later surrendered. A warrantless search yielded 24 more marijuana sticks from the same room, the marked money, and various firearms and ammunition. The five sticks purchased were sent for laboratory examination but were destroyed in a fire. Subsequently, five sticks from the 24 seized were tested with the defense’s conformity and yielded positive results for marijuana.

ISSUE

The core issue is whether the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused for the crime of drug pushing.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The legal logic centered on the sufficiency of evidence establishing the illegal sale. The Court found the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses credible, noting the trial court’s superior position to assess demeanor and the absence of proof of any ill motive. The detailed account of the test-buy operation—where the poseur-buyers were handed the marijuana in exchange for marked money—constituted direct evidence of the sale. The defense of denial and frame-up was rejected for being unsubstantiated.
Regarding the evidence, the Court ruled that the loss of the originally purchased sticks did not fatally impair the case. The substituted sticks, taken from the same cache seized during the raid, were properly admitted for examination with the defense’s consent. Their positive laboratory result, coupled with the recovery of the marked bill, corroborated the sale. The warrantless search and seizure, while raised by the defense, were not pivotal to the conviction for pushing, which was consummated by the prior sale during the buy-bust operation. The chain of events, from the surveillance to the immediate filing of charges, demonstrated a straightforward enforcement action. Thus, all elements of drug pushing were proven beyond reasonable doubt.