Republic of the Philippines
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF LANAO DEL NORTE
12TH Judicial RegionBranch 1, Iligan City
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES,
Plaintiff, CRIM.CASE NO. 13056
FOR VIOLATION OF RA 9165 -versus-
JUAN ,
Accused. x---/
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ACCUSED
COMES NOW THE ACCUSEDin the above – entitled case , by the undersigned counsel , unto this Honorable Court , most respectfully submits the following as her memorandum.
FACTS OF THE CASE :
Accused ( JUAN ) stands charged for violation of RA 9165 by virtue of an act instituting the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002
On June 23, 2007, a warrant of arrest was issued to PEDRO . He was then in Cagayan de Oro City for sometime and later came back to Iligan City.PNP office received a report about the location of PEDRO . Members of PNP assigned with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and stationed at Camp Tomas Cabili,Tipanoy,Iligan City formed a team for apprehension of PEDRO . SPO2 Diosdado Cabahug, SPO2 Edgardo Englatiera , NUP Carlito Ong and together with other police officers and confidential agents
organized 2 teams with a total of 14 members for both teams . One team to execute the warrant of arrest . Another team as a back up .
On May 1, 2008 at 8pm the two teams conducted a drug operation at Purok 1 , Bgy Tambacan , Iligan City for two (2) reasons :
1) to execute the warrant of arrest of PEDRO for for Violation of RA 9165 with no bail recommended .
2) to arrest JUAN if PNP – PDEA got evidence that he was also repacking Shabu. PNP received information that the 2 of them – PEDRO & JUAN were repacking Shabu. The executing team passed through the ground stair that went directly to the second floor of that house without passing through the ground floor. The executing team knocked at the door of the second floor and it was opened by Faridah ,the aunt of JUAN.The team identified themselves as PDEA members . PEDRO noticed the presence of the raiding team and he immediately escaped at the back door and run away to elude arrest leaving behind his companion ( JUAN ) , the owner of the house. The team didn’t know that PEDRO was no longer there.They checked the three rooms except for a padlocked room and PEDRO was nowhere to be seen. JUAN run away through the back door.The back up team found JUAN
downstair .He was frisked. Carlito Ong seized and recovered nine ( 9 ) plastic sachets of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride or Shabu weighing more or less 10.25 gms inside the pocket of Juan. The back up team suddenly informed the executing team that they were able to arrest JUAN and brought him back upstair. Note that the team was only equipped with a warrant of arrest for PEDRO , not a warrant of arrest for JUAN . They let JUAN opened the padlocked door and found out paraphernalia of SHABU scattered on the floor of the room . JUAN was previously arrested by elements of PNP assigned with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on June 22, 2005 docketed in criminal case No. 11784 for violation of RA 9165 . He pleaded guilty and was convicted . His penalty was 6 months of rehabilitation.
ISSUES :
1. Whether or not, the arrest of JUAN was valid without a warrant of arrest. 2. Whether or not the search on JUAN was valid without a search warrant.
DISCUSSION :
Whether or not , the arrest of JUAN was valid without a warrant of arrest.
The ARREST OF JUAN WAS NOT VALID because there was no warrant of arrest forJuan. Arrest is the taking of a person into custody in order that he may be bound to answer for the
commission of an offense . An arrest is made by an actual restraint of a person to be arrested or by his submission to the custody of the person making the arrest.
Arrest maybe made a) WITH A WARRANT b) WITHOUT A WARRANT JUAN was arrested without a warrant.
A peace officer may lawfully arrest a person without a warrant in the following conditions :
1) When, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense.
2) When an offense has just been committed and he has a probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it.
3) When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped form a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or temporarily confined while hi case is pending or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another.
In the case at bar :
1) JUAN HAS NOT COMMITTED, IS NOT actually committing, or IS NOT attempting to commit an offense.
2) The PEACE OFFICER CANNOT ESTABLISH A PROBABLE CAUSE that he has a personal knowledge that JUAN has just committed an offense for JUAN to be
3) JUAN IS NOT A PRISONER who has escaped form a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or temporarily confined while hsi case is pending or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another.
JUAN CANNOT BE LAWFULLY ARRESTED WITHOUT A WARRANT OF ARREST because he doesn’t fulfill the above 3 conditions for one to be lawfully arrested without a warrant of arrest.
After knowing that Pedro was nowhere to be found, the team should have left the house and pursued Pedro who escaped since he was the person specified in the warrant of arrest .
THE SECOND ISSUE IS whether or not the search on JUAN was valid without a search warrant.
A SEARCH WARRANT is an order in writing issued in the name of THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES , signed by a judge and directed to a peace officer ,commanding him to search for personal property and bring it before the court. A search warrant may be for the search and seizure of personal property a) subject of the offense b) stolen or embezzled and other proceeds or fruits of the offense c) used or intended to be used as the means of committing an offense.
A search warrant is issued upon probable cause in connection with one specific offense to be determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and witnesses he may produce, particularly describing the place to be searched and the things to be seized which may be anywhere in the Philippines.
In the case at bar PNP- PDEA TEAM HAS:
1) NO LAWFUL RIGHT TO SEARCH for JUAN’s body for SHABU because the team has NO SEARCH WARRANT FOR JUAN
2) NOBODY FORMALLY FILED A COMPLAINT against JUAN for allegedly repacking SHABU , ( repacking of SHABU was just a hearsay information of the raiding team ) .
THEREFORE , PNP- PDEA team,
