PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. MICHAEL MADARANG Y SANTOS, ACCUSED-APPELLANT.

Michael Madarang y Santos appealed from
the decision of the Regional Trial Court of Bauang, La
Union, Branch 33, convicting him in Criminal Case No. 567-BG of a violation of
Section 4, Article II, of Republic Act No. 6425 [Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, as
amended by Presidential Decree No. 1675] and sentencing him to life imprisonment
and to pay a fine of P20,000.^[1]

Madarang, together with Cirilo Juan y Polas, was charged
in an information dated January 26, 1983, as follows:

“That on or about the 12th day of July, 1982 at
Sitio Gabor, Barangay Bilis, Municipality of
Burgos, Province of La Union, Philippines
and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable
Court, the above-named accused conspiring, confederating
together and mutually helping one another, did
then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously and
without any justifiable cause and not being authorized by law, sell Eight
Hundred [800] grams of dried Marijuana leaves with flowering tops, a prohibited
drug, to Pfc. Roberto C. Viloria, a member of the
Integrated National Police, a Government agent who pretended
as buyer.

“Contrary to Sec. 4, Art. II of R.A. 6425 as amended by P.D. 1675.”^[2]

Juan, who evaded arrest, has not been tried and is still at large.
^[3] Only Madarang was convicted.

The lower court based its finding of guilt on the prosecution’s
evidence.  Thus:

In the early morning of July 12, 1982, Integrated National Police
Sergeants Alejandro Basallo and Roberto Viloria of the San Fernando Police Station in La Union were
tipped by a civilian informer [identity undisclosed] that certain drug pushers
would be selling about four kilos of dried marijuana leaves valued at
P2,800 in Barangay Bilis,
Burgos, La Union.  Acting on that information and with the
permission of his station commander, Basallo formed a
combined Integrated National Police [INP]/Naval Intelligence Bureau [NIB] team
composed of himself and Viloria and Eduardo Pascua and Douglas Abalos of the
NIB of Poro Point, La Union.  Adopting a
strategy to entrap the drug dealers, it was agreed that Viloria would pose as the buyer, Basallo as the driver and Abalos
and Pascua as passengers.^[4]

Said officers, clad in civilian clothes, and the informer
proceeded to Barangay Bilis,
about two kilometers away, on board a borrowed passenger jeepney.  This was actually their second
attempt to apprehend the suspected drug dealers.  Earlier, on June
9, acting on the same information, they waited in Sitio Gabor for the drug pushers,
but the intended sale failed to materialize as the latter did not appear.^[5]

The combined team arrived in Sitio Gabor, in Barangay Bilis at past ten in the morning.  After
parking the jeepney along the
Naguilian
Highway, the civilian informer left while the rest
waited by the jeepney.^[6]

At around 2:25 in the
afternoon, the civilian informer returned and informed the group that the
marijuana dealers were in a house situated about two hundred meters
from where they were waiting.  They backed up the jeepney, stopping a few meters from the house
indicated.  Several minutes later, two men came down from the
mountainside and approached the jeepney. 
They were the accused Cirilo Juan and Michael
Madarang.  Juan was holding a plastic
bag.^[7]

The civilian informer introduced the two to Sgt. Viloria, who was then seated inside the jeepney, as the buyer.  Thereupon, Madarang and Juan boarded the vehicle and sat opposite
him.  Viloria asked the two the price of
their marijuana.  Madarang
promptly replied that it was P600 a kilo and showed one stalk as
sample.  Viloria inspected the rest of
the marijuana leaves wrapped in manila paper
inside the plastic bag.  He tried to bargain for a lower price but
Madarang insisted on the original price of
P600.  Viloria relented and accepted the
offer [“Sige ngarud“].  He took out his wallet from
his back pocket, but instead of paying, he showed Juan and Madarang his police identification card and identified
himself as a police officer.  This caught Madarang and Juan by surprise, who
could not make any move.  The other members of the team, then
standing at the side of the jeepney, boarded the
vehicle, arrested the drug peddlers and confiscated from Juan the plastic bag
containing dried marijuana leaves with flowering tops.^[8]

The peace officers then proceeded to the Burgos Police station and
had the apprehension of Madarang and Juan recorded in
the police blotter.^[9] Thereafter, they
brought Madarang and Juan and the confiscated
marijuana to the police station in San
Fernando, La Union, where they were investigated,
detained and subsequently released.^[10]

Meanwhile, a microscopic test and thin layer chrokmatography
conducted on the confiscated marijuana leaves with flowering tops
[about 800 grams] at the Philippine Constabulary Crime Laboratory unit in Camp
Dangwa, La Trinidad, Benguet, where they were delivered by Sgt. Basallo for examination, positively confirmed that the same
were really marijuana.^[11]

After a prima facie finding by the provincial fiscal that
the offense complained of had been committed by the accused, Juan and Madarang were ordered re-arrested.^[12] Madarang
voluntarily surrendered and upon arraignment pleaded not guilty.^[13] Trial ensued and eventually the judgment
of conviction under review was promulgated.

During the trial, the defense adduced the following evidence:

Michael Madarang, 18 [born on March 19,
1964], single, and a vocational student taking practical electricity, testified
that at noontime of July 12, 1982 [Monday] he was sleeping alone in his house
located along the Naguilian Highway because he was
sick with influenza.^[14] At around
one o’clock in the afternoon, Cirilo Juan came to his house and asked him to accompany the
former to meet certain persons.  Since he knew Juan since childhood
and was quite close to him, Madarang agreed to
accompany Juan though he felt weak.  They walked in the direction
of Siping, a road leading to the
Naguilian
Highway.  Madarang noticed that Juan was holding something wrapped in
cellophane.  He asked Juan what the object was but the latter did
not answer him directly.  Juan appeared excited and in a hurry.^[15]

Madarang and Juan stopped at the house
of Trifon Gallardo where Juan was immediately met by
Felix Biwang, who was with two men standing in the
yard.  Juan talked with the two strangers, after which they [Juan
and the two strangers] boarded a jeepney parked about
50 meters down the road.  Madarang
remained where he was until Juan waved at him to join them inside the jeepney.^[16]

There were other men inside.  Madarang sat beside Juan who was then holding the cellophane
bag.  Madarang heard Viloria requesting Juan to open the bag.  Madarang peered inside but he did not know what the contents
were.  After Viloria inspected the
contents, he suddenly drew his gun and identified himself and the other men as
police officers.  He placed them under arrest. 
Because of shock and fear, Madarang remained
speechless and made no protest.^[17]

They were then brought to the
Burgos municipal building and
afterwards to San Fernando where
they were detained for twenty-two days.  It was only during his
detention that Madarang found out that he was arrested
for illegal possession of marijuana.  He was very angry
with Juan for getting him involved.  Upon his release, he went to
his brother’s house at Tabok, Kalinga, Apayao, to avoid Juan.  He stayed there
for about five months.  However, upon learning that he was going to
be arrested because of a case filed against him, he voluntarily surrendered to
the authorities on March 4,
1983 prior to the service of a warrant of arrest upon him.^[18]

In this appeal, Madarang contends that
the trial court erred in discrediting the eyewitness testimony of Felix Biwang and in finding him guilty of the crime charged beyond
reasonable doubt.  Madarang disavows
knowledge of the contents of the plastic bag and denies involvement with Juan in
the sale of marijuana.

The issue is credibility.

Felix Biwang, a forty-two-year-old
farmer from Barangay Bilis,
Burgos, testified that in the
morning of July 12, 1982, he
was in the house of Trifon Gallardo, his
father-in-law, having a drink with neighbor Virgilio
Sabado.  Two men, whom he did not know,
came looking for Cirilo Juan.^[19]

Juan arrived at 10
o’clock on board a Marcitas bus. 
He conversed with the two men for a few minutes.  Biwang heard them ask Juan “where is it?” [“Ayanna ngay?”].  Then they separated
and Juan left the two men in the yard.^[20]

At about 1:00 p.m., Juan
reappeared holding a bag.  He was followed by Madarang.  Juan rejoined the two men and they
boarded the jeepney parked nearby while Madarang stayed near the house.  After ten
minutes, Madarang joined them.  Although
Biwang was about 100 to 120 meters away, he could see
them because he was standing near the stairs, facing the jeepney.  He could not, however, hear their
conversation.  Then he saw Juan and Madarang being handcuffed and the vehicle moving towards the
municipal building.^[21]

When first queried about his relationship with Madarang, Biwang stated that that
was the first time he had seen Madarang. 
He however changed his testimony and admitted that Madarang and Juan were his neighbors in
Burgos.  He volunteered
to testify in court because he was requested by Madarang’s mother to whom he had related what transpired in
the early afternoon of July 12th, two months after said incident.^[22]

The lower court correctly rejected the testimony of Biwang.  By and large, it was replete with
incredulities and vacillations.  If at all, it only served to
emphasize the fact that Madarang was with Juan at the
time of the incident and that they were together inside the jeepney when the sale of narcotics was effected to a poseur-buyer.  Biwang might have seen what had taken place, but his account
is insufficient to disprove Madarang’s
complicity.  By his own admission, he was too far to hear what was
being said by the persons inside the jeepney. 
His version therefore cannot prevail over that of the police officers who
were actually present in the vehicle when Madarang, in
conspiracy with Juan, negotiated the sale of the marijuana leaves for
P600 a kilo.

Viloria, who posed as the buyer, and
Basallo clearly and positively identified Madarang as the seller of the marijuana. 
The latter’s defense that he only accompanied Juan and that he was
completely unaware that the plastic bag actually contained illegal drugs cannot
overcome the positive and unequivocal statements of the two peace officers that
it was none other than Madarang who personally fixed
the price of the marijuana leaves at P600 a kilo and who stood firm
against Viloria’s attempts at haggling.

We have carefully examined the records and find no sufficient
reason to depart from the trial court’s appraisal of the evidence of the
prosecution and the defense.  We are constrained to give credence
to the narration of the incident by the prosecution witnesses, more so when they
are law enforcers who are presumed to have regularly performed their duty in the
absence of convincing proof to the contrary.^[23]

There was an attempt by Madarang to
discredit the police officers who arrested him.  He accused them of
extorting money from his mother in exchange for dropping the charge against
him.  He added that since his poor mother could only afford a small
amount, they decided to frame him up.  Thus, he claims that his
inclusion as a co-conspirator was prompted by “ulterior motives”. 
Madarang’s mother, who executed an affidavit
attesting to the foregoing was not however, asked, by
the defense counsel to testify in court to elaborate on the matter and to be
cross-examined by the prosecution.^[24]

For someone as desperate as Madarang who
was caught red-handed peddling illicit drugs, such an imputation of wrongdoing,
so easily fabricated, can be expected.  In the case of People
vs. Adriano, 133 SCRA 132, the factual background of which is
similar to the case at bar, We ruled that:

“It is a clear case of res ipsa loquitor.  His imputation to the police of
attempted extortion and maltreatment do not weaken the fact that he was caught
red-handed in possession of contraband.  The presumption that the police
performed their duties regularly was not overthrown.”

Moreover, one thing sticks out like a sore thumb throughout this
case.  We refer to the unusually submissive stance displayed by
Madarang after the entrapment.  As
correctly observed by the trial court, if Madarang
were indeed innocent of the crime imputed to him as he now vehemently insists,
why did he not make a vigorous protest at the time he was placed under arrest
inside the jeepney, or while enroute to Burgos and up to the time he was brought to the
police station in San Fernando, La Union, where he was put in jail? 
His lame explanation that he was surprised and shocked by the sudden turn
of events is wholly unsatisfactory because an unwarranted arrest would naturally
elicit an indignant protest from an innocent man.  Moreover, he
meekly signed, after reading, a waiver, for his safekeeping for seven days
without inquiring from the authorities why he was being detained. 
And finally when he confronted Juan with the latter’s nondisclosure of
the real contents of the plastic bag, he allegedly felt angry but he kept it to
himself despite the grave nature of the charge against him.

All considered, we hold that Madarang committed an act in direct violation of Section 4,
Article II of Republic Act No. 6425 as amended, which provides:

“Section 4.
Sale, Administration, Delivery, Distribution and
Transportation of Prohibited Drugs. — The penalty
of life imprisonment to death and a fine ranging from twenty
thousand to thirty thousand pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, unless
authorized by law, shall sell, administer, deliver, give away to another,
distribute, dispatch in transit or transport any prohibited drug,
or shall act as a broker in any of such transactions.  If
the victim of the offense is a minor, or should a prohibited
drug involved in any offense under this Section be the proximate cause of
the death of a victim thereof, the maximum penalty herein provided shall
be imposed.”

That the marijuana leaves may have belonged to Juan is of
no moment.  Ownership and possession are not indispensable elements
of the crime under consideration.  The mere act of selling or even
acting as broker in a sale of marijuana and other prohibited drugs
consummates the crime under Section 4.  When Madarang negotiated the sale without authority of Juan’s
marijuana leaves to Viloria who posed as a
buyer, he took a direct and active part in the crime.  His guilt
has been established beyond reasonable doubt.

WHEREFORE, the judgment in Criminal Case No. 567-BG is
hereby affirmed.

SO
ORDERED.

Feria, (Chairman), Alampay,
Gutierrez, Jr., and Paras, JJ., concur.

^[2] Records, pp. 3-6.

^[3] TSN, p. 146.

^[4] TSN, pp. 18, 125-127

^[5] TSN, pp. 14-17, 120-121.

^[6] TSN, p. 128.

^[7] TSN, pp. 20-21, 75, 128-132, 150,
169, 173-175.

^[8] Ehb. B; TSN, pp. 23-29, 60, 133,
135-142, 144-147, 150, 183-185, 191.

^[9] Ehb.D; TSN, pp. 29, 145.

^[10] TSN, pp. 151-152.

^[11] TSN, pp. 44-51.

^[12] Records, pp. 1, 11.

^[13] Records,
pp. 44, 61, 186.

^[14] TSN, pp.
375-376.

^[15] TSN, pp. 346, 375-378,
382-384.

^[16] TSN, pp. 348-352, 359, 388.

^[17] TSN, pp. 367-368, 370,
392-395.

^[18] TSN, pp. 404, 408-410.

^[19] TSN, pp. 222, 230, 319.

^[20] TSN, pp. 224, 235-236, 291.

^[21] TSN, pp. 241-245, 291-298,
319.

^[22] TSN, pp. 246-247, 320-325.

^[23] Rule 131, section 5[m], Rules of
Court.

^[24] Records, pp. 15-19,
21-22.