Drug pushing - G.R. No. 184054

G.R. No. 184054

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For a successful prosecution of offenses involving the illegal sale of drugs under Section 5, Article II of R.A. No. 9165, the following elements must be proven: (1) the identity of the buyer and the seller, the object of the sale and the consideration; and (2) the delivery of the thing sold and the payment therefor. What is material to the prosecution for illegal sale of dangerous drugs is the proof that the transaction or sale actually took place, coupled with the presentation in court of the corpus delicti of evidence.

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Finally, we stress that the appellant failed to raise the buy-bust team's alleged non-compliance with Section 21, Article II of R.A. No. 9165 during trial; this argument cannot be raised for the first time on appeal. At any rate, whatever minor deviations there might have been is not fatal, as failure to strictly comply with Section 21, Article II of R.A. No. 9165 will not necessarily render the items confiscated from an accused inadmissible; what is of utmost importance is the preservation of the integrity and evidentiary value of the seized items, as these are the evidence critical in the determination of the guilt or innocence of the accused.[6] In the present case, we find sufficient compliance by the police with the required procedure on the custody and control of the seized items. The succession of events established by evidence shows that the items seized were the same items tested, and subsequently identified and testified to in court.

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