PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. LESLIE LAGASCA, ACCUSED-APPELLANT.

Convicted by the Regional  Trial Court of  Dumaguete City, Branch XL, in
Criminal Case No. 6649 for Dope Pushing in violation of Section 4, Article II of
Republic Act No 6425, as amended (“The Dangerous Drugs Act”) and sentenced to
life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P20,000 and the costs, accused Leslie
LAGASCA appeals for reversal.

The Information against LAGASCA
charged:

“That on or about the 27th day of March, 1985, in the City of
Dumaguete, Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court the
above-named accused, not being then authorized by law, did then and there
wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously sell and deliver to another person two (2)
sticks of cigarettes made of marijuana, a prohibited drug.

Contrary to
Sec. 4, Art. II of the Dangerous Drugs Act.”^[1]

Upon arraignment, LAGASCA pleaded “Not Guilty”.

As synthesized by the
Solicitor General, the prosecution evidence reads as follows:

“On March 27, 1985, Master/Sgt. Ranulfo T. Villamor, team leader of
the Narcotics Command (NARCOM) stationed at Dumaguete City, sent a team of
Narcom agents to conduct a buy – bust operation on suspected marijuana pushers
along Alfonso Street in Dumaguete City, acting on the report of a surveillance
team that marijuana was being peddled along the said street.  The team was
composed of Pfc. Arthur Alcoran, Pat. Leon Quindo and Sgt. Ruben Laddaran. Sgt.
Villamor handed to Pfc. Alcoran a five-peso bill which he initialled and on
which he placed two check marks after his initials to be used in the planned
operation.  (pp. 15-16, T.s.n., October 16, 1985)

Upon reaching the
designated place, Patrolman Alcoran spotted a group of boys, numbering about
five (5) at the side of Ericson and Handurmanan stores.  He approached the group
and made a sign conveying that he wanted to smoke.  Seeing the group interested,
he retrieved the marked five-peso bill from his pocket and gave it to Leslie
Lagasca who readily accepted and placed it at his right side pocket.  Lagasca
then handed two sticks of cigarettes to Patrolman Alcoran.  Suspecting the
cigarettes contained marijuana, the latter placed them in his pockets and
immediately thereafter told Lagasca, ‘Narcom agent, please accompany us to the
PC Headquarters’, holding his left arm and embracing him by the neck.  At this
juncture, Pat. Quindo and Sgt. Laddaran approached the group.  Upon seeing this
the other members of Lagasca’s group took flight.  Thereafter, the Narcom team
brought Lagasca to their office where he was bodily searched and later
investigated.  They found the marked five-peso from the right side pocket of his
pants.  (pp. 5-7, T.s.n., October 16, 1985)

The aforesaid two sticks of
cigarettes were sent to the Philippine Constabulary Crime Laboratory for
examination.  Mrs. Myrna Areola, forensic analyst thereat, conducted the
examination and found the same two (2) sticks of cigarettes positive of
marijuana.”^[2]

The day after the “buy-bust” operation, or on 28 March 1985, Pfc. Alcoran and
Pat. Quindo executed a Joint Affidavit before the Assistant City Fiscal (Exhibit
“A”) describing that operation, the apprehension of LAGASCA, and the
confiscation of the marijuana cigarettes from him.  On 18 April 1985, the
Executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court at Dumaguete City issued a Warrant
of Arrest for LAGASCA’s apprehension.

For his part, LAGASCA’S defense, as
summarized by the Trial Court, reads:

“Accused Leslie Lagasca testifying in his own behalf declared that
he was born on Sept. 6, 1967; the Certificate of Live Birth (Exh. 1, pp. 66,
Folder of Exhibits) was presented in court and identified by the accused to
prove that he was born on Sept. 6, 1967; that in the afternoon of March 27,
1985, he was at the Nieves store in front of Ever theater, Alfonso XIII Street,
Dumaguete City, resting after helping his mother who was sewing some clothes; a
certain person asked him as to what happened to him and he answered him that: 
‘I might be attacked with my asthma;’ the person told him that he had some
medicine for asthma and it was a cigarette made of catyubong and if he
wanted some he should follow the person; that he followed the person and was
given two cigarettes made of catyubong; that he happened to meet an old
man with a long beard and pale who made a sign that he wanted to smoke a
cigarette so he gave him one.  Since the old man wanted two cigarettes he gave
him two cigarettes and in return he gave him money.  When he was about to
receive the money, the old man grabbed his hand and arrested him; that he was
brought to the PC Headquarters and he complained why he was arrested but he was
told that he was selling marijuna cigarettes; that he did not know that the
cigarettes given to him were marijuana cigarettes; that this is the first time
that a case has been filed against him involving marijuana cigarettes.”^[3]

Evaluating the evidence presented,
the Trial Court rejected the defense version, found the prosecution evidence
more credible, and rendered a guilty verdict, thus:

“Wherefore, the
prosecution having proven the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, this
court hereby finds the accused Leslie Lagasca guilty for violation of Sec. 4,
Art. II of R.A. No. 6425, as amended, and hereby sentences the accused Leslie
Lagasca to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of twenty thousand (P20,000)
pesos and to pay the costs.

So ordered.”^[4]

LAGASCA’s submissions in this appeal follow:

“I

The Court a quo gravely erred in finding the accused-appellant
selling marijuana cigarettes to Pfc. Arthur Alcoran.

“II

The Court a quo gravely erred in convicting the
accused-appellant guilty of violating Sec. 4 Art. II of the Dangerous Drugs Act
of 1972.”

We find the errors ascribed belied by the record.  Pfc. Arthur Alcoran, the
NARCOM agent, who acted as the poseur buyer, categorically and straightforwardly
testified that LAGASCA voluntarily sold him the two sticks of marijuana
cigarettes for five (P5.00) pesos.  Thus:    

Alcoran’s
declarations were corroborated by Pat. Quindo, who was with him during the
operation, and by Sgt. Villamor, the team leader.  We find no reason, from the
evidence at hand, to discredit their declarations.

LAGASCA was not
instigated nor induced into selling the marijuana cigarettes by Pfc. Alcoran. 
What the NARCOM agent did was to employ ways and means of entrapping and
catching a malefactor in flagrante.  Entrapment is no bar to
prosecution and conviction.  It is not contrary to law.

LAGASCA’s
denials, aside from being mere negative self-serving evidence, are flawed and do
not ring with truth.  As aptly reasoned out in the People’s Brief:

“First, appellant testified that he only met Orbiso for the first
time on the day in question.  If this were so, it is inconsistent with ordinary
human experience for him to readily accept the sticks of cigarettes from a
stranger.

“Second, he declared that he was suffering from asthmatic
attacks on the day in question and Orbiso gave him the said cigarettes
purportedly containing ‘catiobong‘ as a cure for his ailment.  If this
were so, he should have kept them for medical use.  But he did not.  Instead, he
sold them to Pfc. Alcoran for five-pesos which is not ordinarily the value of
two (2) sticks of plain cigarettes.”^[6]

The defense allegation that the Trial Court should have considered LAGASCA to
have violated instead Section 8, Article II of the Dangerous Drugs Act,
punishing Illegal Possession of Prohibited Drugs, requires no extended
discussion.  The evidence on record sufficiently establishes that LAGASCA gave
two sticks of marijuana cigarettes to agent Alcoran for which he was given and
received a marked five-peso bill, and fully supports conviction for Drug Pushing
in violation of Section 4 of that law.

“Sec. 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, ro shall act as a broker in any of such transactions.  x x x
“^[7]

LAGASCA’s Certificate of Birth (Exhibit “1”) shows that he
was born on 6 September 1967.  He was 17 years, 6 months and 21 days old at the
time of the commission of the offense.^[8]
Ordinarily, he would be entitled to the privileged mitigating circumstance of
minority under Article 68 of the Revised Penal Code.  However, because
Presidential Decree No. 1675, amending Republic Act No. 6425 imposes “life
imprisonment to death” for sale of prohibited drugs, he is not entitled to an
indeterminate sentence.^[9] We can only
recommend that executive clemency be extended to
him.

WHEREFORE, the judgment appealed from is affirmed,
but in view of the privileged mitigating circumstance of minority, we recommend
to the President, through the Minister of Justice, that clemency be extended to
the accused, Leslie Lagasca, after he shall have served a term of imprisonment,
consistent with the ends of retributive justice and the objectives of the
Dangerous Drugs Act.  Costs de officio.

SO
ORDERED.

Yap, (Chairman), Narvasa, Cruz, Feliciano, Gancayco, and
Sarmiento, JJ., concur.

^[2] Exhibit “H”, p. 62, Folder of Exhibits;
Appellee’s Brief, pp. 2-4, Rollo, p.160.

^[3] T.s.n., December 17, 1985, pp.
3-8.

^[4] Original Record, p.
118.

^[5] T.s.n., October 16, 1985,
pp. 4-6.

^[6] Appellee’s Brief, p.
13.

^[7] P.D. No. 1675, February
17, 1980.

^[8] T.s.n., December 17,
1985, p. 3

^[9] Section 2, Act No.
4103, as amended; People vs. Beralde, 139 SCRA 426 (1985).