ILOILO City – The motion to quash the seven search warrants against members of the indigenous people’s (IP) group Tumandok in Tapaz, Capiz does not affect anything, according to the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
Police Lieutenant Joem Malong, PRO-6 spokesperson, said they were expecting that Tumandoks would recourse into the filing of motion to quash, but they could not deny that their comrades were possessing illegal firearms.
Nine other arrested personalities in the police operation in Tapaz and Calinog, Iloilo have submitted themselves for a plea bargaining agreement.
“They could seek legal remedies, to find loopholes and free themselves, but it did not change anything. The plea bargaining agreement says it all. They illegally possess firearms,” Malong said.
She added that they can never question the admission of the nine arrested persons who availed the plea bargaining agreement in this case.
“We might have lost in the six motions to quash, but we have gained so much in this operation,” Malong stressed.
“After the service of warrant to these ranking Communist Party of the Philippines -New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), more than 300 surrendered and the count continues, the area is open for development, and the people are now cooperating with the government,” she added.
The Regional Trial Court (RTC), 6th Judicial Region, Branch 21 in Mambusao, Capiz recently quashed the seven search warrants against the IPs in Tapaz.
They failed to satisfy the constitutional requirement of definiteness or particularity, according to Judge Rommel S. Leonor on June 15, 2021 in three separate Omnibus Decisions.
The motions to quash search warrants were filed by accused Marivic Aguirre (two search warrants), Marilou Catamin, Eleuteria Caro, Ferdinand Capillo, Jucie Caro, and Rollen Catamin.
The court also ordered all evidence obtained during the illegal search be “suppressed… (and) in any and all legal proceedings, the said obtained evidence are all inadmissible as evidence.”
Malong, for their part said, these persons may have been celebrating their freedom while the police celebrate the freedom of communities from the control of the CPP-NPA.
“No one is above the law, our police officers will continue enforcing the law without fear or favor to hunt down people who sow fear and endanger the communities because what we are after is bringing peace, order and development in the communities,” she added.
On Dec. 20, 2020, troops of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) and the PRO-6 carried out synchronized military police operations in Calinog, Iloilo and Tapaz, Capiz.
The raids for alleged illegal firearms and explosives resulted in the arrest of 15 IPs and death of nine others.
Among those killed in Barangay Lahug, Tapaz were Roy Giganto, chairperson of Tumandok, and village councilor and co-councilors Reynaldo Katipunan and Mario Aguirre, according to farmers’ group Pamanggas Panay, the regional chapter of militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).
The Supreme Court set the requisites for the issuance of valid search warrants:
* probable cause is present
* such presence is determined personally by the judge
* the complainant and the witnesses he or she may produce are personally examined by the judge, in writing and under oath or affirmation
* the applicant and the witnesses testify on the facts personally known to them
* the warrant specifically describes the place to be searched and the things to be seized
The high court added that “the absence of any of these requisites will cause the downright nullification of the search warrants.”
On the other hand, the 3ID is urging the public to “follow and recognize the promulgation of competent authorities vested with the power to evaluate circumstances.”
“As partners on ending insurgency, we standby with the legal remedies that our PNP (Philippine National Police) counterparts will do,” said Major Cenon Pancito III, 3ID spokesperson.
“May it be noted however that there are those who pleaded guilty during the plea bargaining agreement. This somehow showed that indeed there was commission of crime,” he added./PN