07/10/2024
The Supreme Court has emphasized that simply violating ordinances and regulations is not enough to justify a valid warrantless search and seizure, especially when the penalty does not involve imprisonment.
In a Decision written by Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez, the Supreme Court's Second Division acquitted Angelito Ridon of illegal possession of a firearm. The Court found the firearm seized from him inadmissible because it was the result of an illegal search and seizure.
Searches and seizures without a warrant may be allowed if they are part of a lawful arrest under Rule 126, Section 13 of the Rules of Court. However, a lawful arrest must first be conducted before a warrantless search and seizure can be done.
In the present case, the police officers' basis for pursuing Ridon was his violation of traffic rules for entering a one-way street.
A traffic violation, however, does not call for an arrest but merely the confiscation of the driver’s license. Hence, regardless of Ridon’s guilt in entering the one-way street, he was not under arrest when the police officers pursued him.
As there was no valid arrest, the warrantless search that followed was also not valid.
Read the full press release at: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/sc-violation-of-ordinance-not-enough-to-justify-a-warrantless-search/
Read the full text of the Decision at: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/252396-angelito-ridon-y-guevarra-vs-people-of-the-philippines/
