Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SUPREME COURT
Manila
POSITION PAPER
(For the Prosecution)
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One evening, around 9 p.m., Yna went jogging in Ayala where she
consequently spotted a female named Clarlaine vomiting beside the lobby of
Marriott. As Yna approached Clarlaine to offer her comfort, Krissy gave the
signal which indicated the presence of drugs inside the latters bag. Despite
the fact that Clarlaine was vomiting, Yna tried to search Clarlaines bag,
thereupon finding 5 pills of ecstasy inside it. Yna then accosted Clarlaine
and brought her to the nearest police station located in Mabolo where an
inquest proceeding was done and subsequently an information was filed in
court.
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Prosecution proffers the following issues for the resolution of this
Honorable Court
I. Whether or not the search and arrest made by Yna was lawful.
Arguments
II. The possession of ecstasy is a crime that would justify the arrest made by
Yna.
Discussion
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I. The search and arrest made by Yna was lawful based on the following
arguments:
Yna, while may have been off-duty when she made the arrest had the
responsibility to maintain peace and security as an official peace keeping
officer, as was held in the case of Employees Compensation Commission vs.
CA that:
Members of the national police, like P/Sgt. Alvaran, are by the nature of
their functions technically on duty 24 hours a day. Except when they are on
vacation leave, policemen are subject to call at any time and may be asked
by their superiors or by any distressed citizen to assist in maintaining the
peace and security of the community.1
1 Employees Compensation Commission vs. CA, G.R. No. 115858, June 28, 1995
2 California State University, From the Incident through the System Legally: Knowledge Base of Legal
Concepts, January 16, 1999, https://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/totcirc.htm
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discreet and prudent man that the accused is guilty of the
crime which has just been committed.3
The K9, a duly certified and highly trained dog partnered with Yna, a
police officer, in pursuit of stopping potential crimes and offenses would
lead Yna into believing that Clarlaine is in possession of illegal substances.
Being tasked to uphold the law, it is only right that Yna search Clarlaines
bag for illegal substances.
The motion to question the legality of the search and arrest should be
denied for the same is legal under warrantless searches and arrests. The
search and arrest is valid.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and
for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of
arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined personally by
the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and
the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be
searched and the persons or things to be seized.4
However this rule that only a valid warrant issued by the court will justify a
valid and lawful search and arrest allows certain exceptions:
Warrantless Arrest:
There is no doubt that the limited search within her immediate control made
upon her bag is a valid warrantless search being incidental to lawful arrest.
As to the issue of the validity of search, no less than Section 13, Rule
126 of the Rules of Court and by jurisprudence allow warrantless search.
Among the enumeration of valid warrantless search is where the search
(and seizure) is an incidental to a lawful arrest.
In the case of People vs. Estella, G.R. Nos. 138539-40, January 21,
2003, the Supreme Court ruled that the prevailing rule is that the
the arresting officer may take from the arrested individual any
money or property found upon the latters person- that which was used
in the commission of the crime or was the fruit of the crime or which
may provide the person arrested with the means of committing violence
6 Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure, Section 13 Rule 126
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or escaping, or which may be used in evidence in the trial of the case.
The search must, however, be contemporaneous to the arrest and made
within a permissible area of search. (emphasis supplied).7
Applying the principle laid down in the Estella case in the case at bar,
clearly the search was made after Clarlaine was arrested or at least
contemporaneous to her arrest and the property found upon her person is an
ecstasy which was a fruit of the crime or used in the commission of the
crime since possession of it is illegal. It cannot also be denied that the search
was conducted within her permissible area (limited only to her bag) which is
in her possession and immediate control. No search made away from the
place where she was vomiting or it is done upon her property which she is in
possession.
The arrest must not necessarily precede the search if there is probable cause
The signal of Krissy that there was a drug in the bag is a fact
constituting probable cause for the Yna to believe that a crime is being
committed by accused and thus the further search within the reach of the
accused (BAG) only justified the search being lawful. She was arrested
contemporaneous with the valid search and the circumstances justify Yna to
arrest for the crime is already committed in flagrante delicto (possession of
ecstacy is a crime itself). There is enough probable cause to justify
warrantless search incidental to lawful arrest. It does not require that arrest
must precede search, it is held by the court that warrantless search may be
validly made immediately before arrest as long as the search is
contemporaneous with or immediately preceded the arrest and the same
requires the arresting officer to act quickly given the circumstances of the
case
The nature of the circumstances called for the immediacy of the search
II. The possession of ecstasy is a crime that would justify the arrest made
by Yna.
It is clear from the viewpoint of RA 9165 that indeed the law punishes
possession of ecstasy which in this case was inside her bag and was lawfully
searched by Yna.
Prayer
Date:
By:
Prosecutor
Justin Gular
Jana Baduel
Mary Iway
Philip Jaramillo
Virgilio Bito II
Sandy Miyagi
Christine Bontuyan
Katrina Mongaya
Psalm Pueblos
Jeffrey Fuentes
Ralph Gonzales
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