MURAO, JOSE PEPITO III

I. Article III Section 2, Warrantless Arrests:

People v. Cruz G.R. No. 187047

Facts:
On February 23, 2005, Police officer Rey Millari of the District Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Team
(DAID-SOT) in Taguig received a call from a male informant that a certain alias ‘Maning’ later identified
as herein accused-appellant Manuel Cruz, has been selling illegal drugs in Sitio de Asis Paranaque City.
Upon conferring with his Chief and other members of his team who confirmed with people from Sitio de
Asis whether an alias Maning was involved in sale of drugs in their place, the DAID-SOT organized a buy-
bust operation to apprehend Maning.
Within the same afternoon, the buy-bust team along with the male informant went to Tanyag Street where
Maning resides and where he also conducts business. Upon reaching the house of Maning, the informant
introduced police officer Gallano as a security guard in need of shabu. The transaction was consummated
upon the handing of marked money consisting of four 500-peso bills to Maning in exchange for a plastic
sachet containing a white crystalline substance later identified as methylamphetamine hydrochloride or
shabu. PO2 Gallano then gave the signal of a missed call to alert the buy-bust team to apprehend Maning.
After arresting Maning, he was then brought to the DAID-SOT office for investigation and documentation,
which included testing of the substance and drug testing on him.
For his defense, Maning posits that he works as a dispatcher of jeepneys in Sitio de Asis and he was merely
on a bathroom break when he was unlawfully arrested supposedly for refusal to give a ‘tong’ to the
policemen as public utility vehicles customarily do. He asserts that the policemen are framing him for his
insistence in not giving the ‘tong’. The RTC found Maning guilty of the charge of illegal sale of shabu in
violation of RA 9165. However, Maning was absolved of the charge of illegal possession as the amount of
shabu retrieved from him was of a small quantity considered part of his trade. The Court of Appeals
affirmed the RTC decision.
Issue:
W/N Maning’s warrantless arrest was valid?
Held:
YES. Buy-bust operations have conventionally been held by the courts and employed by the police to
validly entrap a suspected drug pusher. Maning was caught in flagrante delicto of passing shabu to PO2
Gallano, which is one of the valid exceptions to the mandatory procurement of warrant before making
arrests. Much more, Maning was also caught in possession of the marked money that facilitated said
nefarious sale. The court has even held that in cases where there is failure to use marked money, the same
is not material as the illegal transaction still occurred. Petition is DENIED, Court of Appeals decision is
hereby AFFIRMED.