PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES vs HUANG ZHEN HUA G.R. No. 139301, September 9, 00!
Police operatives received word from their confidential informant that Peter Chan and Henry Lao, and appellants Jogy Lee and Huang Zhen Hua were engaged in illegal drug trafficking. The policemen also learned that Lee was handling the payments and accounting of the proceeds of the illegal drug trafficking activities activities of Lao and Chan. fficer !nciro, Jr. and other police operatives conducted surveillance operations and were a"le to verify that Lao and appellant Lee were living together as hus"and and wife. They were a"le to secure search warrants, one for violation of Presidential #ecree $P.#.% $P.#.% &o. '()) $illegal possession of firearms and e*plosives% and two for violation of +.! &o. )-, as amended otherwise known as the #angerous #rug !ct. The implementation of the first /earch 0arrant, no persons were found in the are, however the policemen found two kilos sha"u, paraphernalia for its production, and machines and tools apparently used for the production of fake credit cards. Thereafter, Thereafter, the police operatives received information that Lao and Chan would "e delivering sha"u. The policemen rushed to the area and saw Chan and Lao on "oard the latter1s car. Thereafter, the shoot2out resulted to death of the two suspect during the encounter. The policemen found two plastic "ags, each containing one kilo of sha"u, in Lao1s car. The policemen then proceeded to the area where to enforce the other search warrant. The policemen coordinated with !ntonio Pangan, the officer in charge of security in the "uilding. The policemen, Pangan and two security guards proceeded proceeded to the condominium condominium unit. unit. !nciro, !nciro, Jr. knocked repeatedly repeatedly on the front door, door, "ut no one responded. Pangan, 3 likewise, knocked on the door. until until Lee peeped peeped through through the window window "eside "eside the front front door. door. The policemen policemen allowed Pangan to communicate with appellant Lee "y sign language and pointed their uniforms to her to show that they were policemen. The Lee then opened the door and allowed the team into the condominium unit. The policemen conducted the search in all the rooms within the unit. The team proceeded with the search and found other articles not descri"ed on the the search warrant. Huang Zhen Hua was found sleeping in one of the rooms during the search and was surprised to see police officers. !nciro, Jr. found two transparent plastic "ags each containing one kilo of sha"u, sha"u, a feeding feeding "ottle, "ottle, a plastic plastic canister canister and assorted assorted paraphernali paraphernalia. a. !nciro, !nciro, Jr. also found assorted assorted documents, pictures, "ank pass"ooks issued "y the !llied 4anking Corporation, credit cards, passports and identification cards of Lao and Lee. !nciro, Jr. told Lee to "ring some of her clothes "ecause they were "ringing her to the P!+!C head5uarters. Lee did as she was told and took some clothes from the ca"inet in the master1s "edroom where !nciro, Jr. had earlier found the sha"u. 6ssue7 0hether or not the articles not specified in the search warrant, are inadmissi"le evidence. Held7 &o, !dmittedly, !dmittedly, !nciro, !nciro, Jr. sei8ed and took custody of certain articles "elonging to the appellant and Lao which were not descri"ed in the search warrants. However, the sei8ure of articles not listed in a search warrant does not render the sei8ure of the articles descri"ed and listed therein illegal9 nor does it render inadmissi"le in evidence. /uch articles were in plain view of !nciro, Jr. as he implemented the search warrants and was authori8ed to sei8e the said articles "ecause of their close connection to the crime charged. !n e*ample of the applica"ility of the :plain view1 doctrine is the situation in which the police have a warrant to search a given area for specified o";ects, and in the course of the search come across some other article of incriminating character. !n o";ect that comes into view during a search incident to arrest that is appropriately limited in scope under e*isting law may "e sei8ed without a warrant.
