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Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila

SECOND DIVISION

G.R. No. 184056               November 26, 2012

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee,
vs.
GEORGE EYAM y WATANG, Accused-Appellant.

D E C I S I O N

DEL CASTILLO, J.:

Subject of this appeal is the September 20, 2007 Decision1 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR-H.C. No. 02215 which affirmed appellant’s conviction by the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 64, through its March 8, 2006 Decision,2 for the crime of illegal possession of methylamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, a dangerous drug, in violation of Section 11, Article II of Republic Act (RA) No. 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Factual Antecedents

In an Information3 filed on July 17, 2003, appellant was charged with were duly establiehed by the prosecution in this case. Appellant was caught in possession of shabu, a dangerous drug. He failed to show that he was authorized to possess the same. Lastly, by his mere possession of the drug, there is already a prima facte evidence of knowledge, which he failed to rebut. All told, we sustain the conviction of appellant.1âwphi1

WHEREFORE, the appeal is DISMISSED and the September 20, 2007 Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-H.C. No. 02215 is AFFIRMED.

SO ORDERED.

MARIANO C. DEL CASTILLO
Associate Justice

WE CONCUR:

ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice
Chairperson

ARTURO D. BRION Associate Justice

JOSE PORTUGAL PEREZ Associate Justice

JOSE CATRAL MENDOZA*
Associate Justice

A T T E S T A T I O N

I attest that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Court’s Division.

ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice
Chairperson

C E R T I F I C A T I O N

I certify that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Court’s Division.

MARIA LOURDES P. A. SERENO
Chief Justice

Footnotes

* Per Raffle, dated November 19, 2012.

1 CA rollo, pp. 77-88; penned by Associate Justice Mariflor P. Punzalan Castillo and concurred in by Associate Justices Marina L. Buzon and Rosmari D. Carandang.

2 Records, pp. 91-96; penned by Judge Delia H. Panganiban.

3 Id. at 1.

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