Professional Documents
Culture Documents
10 People vs. Molina
10 People vs. Molina
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G.R. No. 133917. February 19, 2001.
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* EN BANC.
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YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.:
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(Republic
4
Act No. 6425), as amended by Republic Act No.
7659, and sentencing them to suffer the supreme penalty
of death.
The information against accused-appellants reads:
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Paguidopon 10
where they would wait for the alleged pusher
to pass by.
At around 9:30 in the morning of August 8, 1996, while
the team was positioned in the house of SPO1 Paguidopon,
a “trisikad” carrying the accused-appellants passed by. At
that instance, SPOI Paguidopon pointed to the accused-
appellants as the pushers. Thereupon, the team11 boarded
their vehicle and overtook the “trisikad.” SPO1
Paguidopon was left in his house, thirty
12
meters from where
the accused-appellants were accosted.
The police officers then ordered the “trisikad” to stop. At
that point, accused-appellant Mula who was holding a
black bag handed the same to accused-appellant Molina.
Subsequently, SPO1 Pamplona introduced himself as a
police officer
13
and asked accusedappellant Molina to open
the bag.
14
Molina replied, “Boss, if possible we will settle
this.” SPO1 Pamplona insisted on opening the bag, which
revealed dried marijuana leaves inside. Thereafter,
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On April
18
25, 1997, the trial court rendered the assailed
decision, the decretal portion of which reads:
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15 Id., p. 9.
16 Records, pp. 32-37.
17 Records, pp. 39-43.
18 Penned by Judge Renato A. Fuentes.
19 Decision, Rollo, p. 24.
180
I.
II.
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III.
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20 Rollo, p. 40.
21 Constitution, Article III, Section 2.
181
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182
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26 Id., at 449; citing Malacat v. Court of Appeals, 283 SCRA 159, 175
[1997].
27 Id., at 444; and the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure (as
amended), Rule 113, Section 5.
28 Decision, Rollo, p. 22.
29 People v. Chua Ho San, supra; citing People v. Burgos, 144 SCRA 1
[1986]; People v. Encinada, 280 SCRA 72 [1997]; People v. Montilla, 285
SCRA 703 [1998]; People v. Claudio, 160 SCRA 646 [1988]; People v.
Maspil, Jr., 188 SCRA 757 [1988]; People v. Lo Ho Wing, 193 SCRA 122
183
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184
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Likewise, in People v. Mengote, the Court did not consider
“eyes . . . darting from side to side . . . [while] holding . . .
[one’s] abdomen,” in a crowded street at 11:30 in the
morning, as overt acts and circumstances sufficient to
arouse suspicion and indicative of probable cause.
According to the Court, “[b]y no stretch of the imagination
could it have been inferred from these acts that an offense
had just been committed, or was actually being committed,
or was at least being attempted in [the arresting
33
officers’]
presence.” So also, in People v. Encinada, the Court ruled
that no probable cause is gleanable from the act of riding a
motorela while holding two plastic baby chairs. 34
Then, too, in Malacat v. Court of Appeals, the trial
court concluded that petitioner was attempting to commit a
crime as he was ‘“standing at the corner of Plaza Miranda
and Quezon Boulevard’ with his eyes ‘moving very fast’ and
‘looking 35at every person that come (sic) nearer (sic) to
them.’ ” In declaring the warrantless arrest therein
illegal, the Court said:
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37 Id., at 178.
38 Concurring Opinion of Justice Artemio V. Panganiban in People v.
Doria, 301 SCRA 668, 720 (1999).
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