Republic of the Philippines

National Capital Judicial Region

Regional Trial Court
BRANCH 108, Pasay City

PEOPLE OF THE
PHILIPPINES,
Complainant

-versus- Criminal Case No. R-PSY-18-17285 CR

For: Carnapping under R.A. 10883

RAMON A . BAIDAL, JR.,

JAYMART L. ENCINAS,
ANTHONY IBANEZ,
LORENZO R. GABRIEL and
MICHAEL G. DEALAGDON,
Accused.
_____________________________________________________

MOTION TO QUASH

Accused Gabriel, through counsel, states:

GROUND FOR MOTION TO QUASH

The Accused seeks the quashal of the information for

carnapping based on Section 3 (c) of Rule 117 of the Rules of
Court for lack of jurisdiction over his person as a result of the
illegal warrantless arrest conducted by the elements of the
Highway Patrol Group on the night of 22 June 2018.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

1. The Accused Persons are personnel of RABM Towing

Services (RTS) which has been temporarily commissioned by the
Pasay Traffic and Parking Management Office (PTPMO) for
clearing operations within Pasay City. A copy of the Certification
issued by PTPMO to RTS is hereto attached as Annex “1”.

2. In the afternoon of 19 June 2018, the PTPMO received a

call from a certain Officer Chavez, who identified himself to be a
Skyway Patrol Officer, requesting for assistance to tow a truck that
stalled along Nichols Interchange, Pasay City.

Accordingly, the PTPMO immediately dispatched Accused

Gabriel, Encinas, Baidal and Ibanez around 6.30 p.m., taking with
them Tow Truck with plate number “ZPS 810” and body markings
“Pasay City Towing Services accredited – 07”. The 4 dispatched
accused needed more hands so they brought in Accused
Dealagdon with them.

A copy of the Dispatch Sheet issued by the PTPMO is hereto

attached as Annex “2”.

3. At around 8:00 p.m. in the evening of 19 June 2018, the

Accused Persons arrived at the scene where the reported truck
stalled. The stalled truck is a 14-wheeler Isuzu Truck with plate
number RFP 712 and loaded with sand. The driver of the stalled
truck identified himself as Leonebel Abordo. The owner of the
stalled truck, who was not at the scene where the truck stalled,
was identified by Leonebel Aborda to be Mr. Allan L. Tapang.

4. The Accused Persons did not forthwith tow the stalled

truck. Instead, they first tried to fix the same in order to avoid the
inconvenience of having it towed. However, their efforts turned
futile after hours of trying. Thus, at around 11.30 in the evening of
19 June 2018, The Accused Persons decided to tow the stalled
truck and bring it to the impounding area of Pasay City at Diokno
Boulevard to turn-over the same to the PTPMO to which Leonebel
Aborda consented.

A copy of the Technical Inspection Form issued by the

Accused Persons and concurred in by Leonebel Aborda is hereto
attached as Annex “3”.
 5. At the impounding area, the Accused Persons turned-
over the towed truck to the PTPMO on-duty therein T/E Abel B.
Logro. At this point, the Accused Persons had no more control
over the towed truck as their commission merely involves that of
towing stalled trucks and surrendering the same to the PTPMO at
the impounding area.

6. Meanwhile, T/E Abel B. Logro processed the issuance of

the Ordinance Violation Receipt (OVR). However, Leonebel
Aborda was no longer to be found at the impounding area. Thus,
the OVR was issued on the stalled truck with notation on the name
of driver/owner box “No Driver”. A copy of the OVR is hereto
attached as Annex “4”.

7. On 22 June 2018, or 3 days after the Accused Persons

towed the stalled truck and surrendered it to the PTPMO at the
Pasay City impounding area, while they were in the ordinary
conduct of duty as commissioned clearing operators of Pasay City,
traversing West Bound NAIA Road, Pasay City and onboard the
Tow Truck with plate number “ZPS 810” and body markings
“Pasay City Towing Services accredited – 07, they were flag
down and arrested by the team of policemen.

Thereafter, the Accused Persons were brought to the office

of the Regional Highway Patrol Unit-NCR at Camp Crame,
Quezon wherein they were made to be identified by Leonebel
Aborda.

8. Only then were the Accused Persons apprised that they

were being charged with Carnapping under R.A. 10883.

9. Thereafter, they were made to sign a waiver of their right

under Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code without the
assistance of their counsel of choice and were subjected to inquest
proceedings before the Department of Justice.

10. On 2 July 2018, the Department of Justice issued an

Inquest Resolution finding probable cause to indict the Accused
Persons for Carnapping under R.A. 10883. The filing of the
Information for Carnapping against the Accused Persons followed.
 After being detained for more than 1 month at Camp Crame,
Quezon City, the Accused Persons were committed to the Jail
Warden of the BJMP of Pasay City by Order of the Honorable
Court dated 19 July 2018 who acquired physical custody of the
Accused Persons only on 25 July 2018.

ARGUMENTS AND DISCUSSION

11. The Accused Persons were merely traversing West

Bound NAIA Road, Pasay City onboard the Tow Truck with plate
number “ZPS 810” and body markings “Pasay City Towing
Services accredited – 07 when they were arrested without a
warrant on 22 July 2018.

The Inquest Resolution issued by the Department of Justice

found the warrantless arrest of the Accused Persons valid. The
Inquest Resolution states:

“With respect to the complaint of carnapping

against respondents Encinas, Ibanez, Gabriel,
Dealagdon and Baidal, Jr., we find that their arrest
was valid pursuant to the provisions of Sec. 5 (b) of
the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure regarding
the conduct of arrests without any warrant.”

Other than the quoted plain statement of the DOJ, The

Inquest Resolution failed to provide any explanation as to the
validity of the warrantless arrest. Unfortunately, the finding of the
DOJ is a flagrant mistake.

Section 5 (b) of the Rules of Court provides that an arrest

without warrant is lawful when an offense has just been committed
and he has probable cause to believe based on personal
knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested
has committed it.
 As culled from the record of the case, the Accused Persons
were arrested allegedly for Carnapping under R.A. 10883 when
they towed the stalled truck of Allan L. Tapang on 19 June 2018.

First, the act of the Accused Persons in towing the stalled

truck of Allan L. Tapang does not constitute carnapping or any
other offense. They merely performed their duty as commissioned
clearing operator of the PTPMO of Pasay City when they towed
the stalled truck along Nichols Interchange, Pasay City.

There could have been no unlawful taking because the

Accused Persons towed the stalled truck of Allan L. Tapang along
Nichols Interchange in the performance of their commission as
clearing operators of the LGU of Pasay City. Likewise, any
allegation of intent to gain is belied by the absence of unlawful
taking and the fact that the Accused Persons brought the stalled
truck to the impounding area of the LGU of Pasay City and turned-
over/surrendered custody over the stalled truck to the PTPMO.
Attached hereto is a copy of Certificate of Apprehension issued by
the Traffic & Parking Management Office of Pasay City as Annex
“5”.

Hence, there was no offense to which the warrantless arrest

of the Accused Persons could have been based upon.

Second, assuming without admitting that the towing of the

stalled truck constituted offense, the same cannot be considered
as an offense that has just been committed to justify warrantless
arrest.

To emphasize, the warrantless arrest of the Accused

Persons on 22 June 2018 happened 3 days after the towing
incident. By any stretch of imagination, the towing of the stalled
truck on 19 June 2018 cannot be considered to have just been
committed on 22 June 2018.

Third, the arresting policemen had no probable cause based

on their own personal knowledge that the Accused Persons
committed the offense for which they were arrested without
warrant.
 The Memorandum dated 22 June 2018 of the Chief
Investigation Section, RHPU-NCR and the affidavits of Leonebel
Abordo and Allan L. Tapang on record disclose that it was Allan L.
Tapang who personally appeared before the Office of the Regional
Highway Patrol Unit-NCR and allegedly filed a formal complaint on
the alleged unlawful towing of his stalled car on 19 June 2018.

Evidently, Allan L. Tapang had no personal knowledge of the

facts and circumstances of the towing of his stalled truck. A
perusal of the aforesaid Memorandum and affidavits reveals that
Allan L. Tapang merely acted upon the information relayed to him
by his driver Leonebel Abordo when he filed a complaint before the
Office of the Regional Highway Patrol Unit-NCR. In turn, this
hearsay information supplied by Allan L. Tapang was the one
relied upon by the arresting policemen in undertaking the
warrantless arrest of the Accused Persons.

Without a doubt, the arresting policemen had no personal

knowledge because the information they had on the facts and
circumstances of the towing incident on 19 June 2018 amounts to
hearsay evidence, twice removed.

Based on the foregoing, it is clear that the warrantless arrest

of the Accused Persons was unlawful.

At this juncture, it bears emphasis that the proceeding in this

case derived its legal foundation upon the filing of the information
for carnapping pursuant to Section 6, Rule 112 of the Rules of
Court. Therefore, since there was no lawful warrantless arrest to
begin with, the proceedings that ensued are deemed void and of
no effect.

As a consequence of the unlawful warrantless arrest, the

Court did not acquire jurisdiction over the person of the accused,
thereby calls for the just quashal of the information.
 PRAYER

WHEREFORE, the Accused respectfully prays for the

quashal of the information for Carnapping filed against him and for
his immediate release.

The Accused prays also for other just and equitable reliefs.

Quezon City for Pasay City 06 August 2018.

ATTY. AVELINO C. BADILLO, JR. IV

Counsel for the Accused Gabriel
1 Morquecillo Street
San Francisco Del Monte, Quezon City
Atty.’s Roll No. 66648
PTR No. 4026009; 01/24/2018; Quezon City
IBP No. 1081071; 02/21/2018; Quezon City
MCLE Compliance No. VI-0004453
Contact No. 09053190547
Email Address: avelbadillo@gmail.com

Copy Furnished:

Office of the Public Prosecutor of Pasay City