BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 42 here quashed the search warrants issued against six activists arrested here in 2019 for alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
The decision, according to the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) that is representing the six, was a “step to acquit” Karina Mae De La Cerna, Cherryl Catalogo, John Milton Lozande, Proseso Quiatchon, Albert De La Cerna, and Noli Rosales.
The activists were arrested in a joint operation of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office and the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID). They were served search warrants issued by Quezon City Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert in October 2019 for violation of Republic Act 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearm and Ammunition Regulation Act.
The accused, however, maintained that the supposed ammunition and firearms recovered at the premises of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan office in Barangay Bata were “planted.”
Law enforcers previously said they raided the office as it was “being used as a recruitment facility” by the New People’s Army.
In a Feb. 18 resolution, Judge Ana Celeste Bernad, acting presiding judge of RTC Branch 42, said she based her decision after an ocular inspection of the site of search on Jan. 29.
“Search Warrant No. 5951(19) failed to describe the place with particularity. It simply authorized a search of No. 122 Ilang Ilang Street, Barangay Bata, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental,” the decision read.
“The said address, however, upon entry is made up of three (3) structures that can be seen inside the compound containing a lot area of three hundred seventy five (375) square meters or more or less. It would seem that the warrant gives the raiding team unbridled and thus illegal authority to search all the structures found inside the above-stated address,” it added.
The “intention thereof is that the search shall be confined strictly to the place so described,” the judge stressed.
This particular case, the court said, constituted an “infringement of the constitutional requirement that a search warrant shall particularly describe the place to be searched” as stated under Section 2, Article II of the 1987 Constitution.
It further resolved that in view of the violation of the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, any evidence obtained such as the firearms and other materials seized from the premises shall thus be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.
Evidence obtained in illegal search and arrests like the firearms and explosives in this instance – “fruits of the poisonous tree” that must be excluded in evidence.
The latest decision of the RTC overturns the presumption of regularity that the search warrant issued by Judge Burgos-Villavert “satisfied the constitutional requirement of definiteness”.
“It further disproves the competence and integrity of the Quezon City RTC judge as well as other similar judges who have arbitrarily issued search warrants against known activists and members of caused-oriented organizations,” the NUPL said in a statement.
Reached for comment, 3ID spokesperson Major Cenon Pancito III said they have yet to receive a copy of the Bacolod RTC’s decision.
However, Pancito said they will consult with their legal team once they receive the copy, and they may file a motion for reconsideration./PN
