Laud v. People Of The Philippines

Republic of the Philippines SUPREME COURT Manila FIRST DIVISION G.R. No. 199032 November 19, 2014 RETIRED SP04 BIENVENIDO LAUD, Petitioner, vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent. PER CURIAM: Assailed in this petition for review on certiorari1 are the Decision2 dated April 25, 2011 and the Resolution3 dated October 17, 2011 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP. No. 113017 upholding the validity of Search Warrant No. 09-14407.4 The Facts On July 10, 2009, the Philippine National Police (PNP), through Police Senior Superintendent Roberto B. Fajardo, applied with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila, Branch50 (Manila-RTC) for a warrant to search three (3) caves located inside the Laud Compound in Purok 3, Barangay Ma-a, Davao City, where the alleged remains of the victims summarily executed by the so-called "Davao Death Squad"

may be found.5 In support of the application, a certain Ernesto Avasola (Avasola) was presented to the RTC and there testified that he personally witnessed the killing of six (6) persons in December 2005, and was, in fact, part of the group that buried the victims.6 Judge William Simon P. Peralta (Judge Peralta), acting as Vice Executive Judge of the Manila-RTC, found probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant, and thus, issued Search Warrant No. 09-144077 which was later enforced by the elements ofthe PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, in coordination withthe members of the Scene of the Crime Operatives on July 15, 2009.The search of the Laud Compound caves yielded positive results for the presence of human remains.8 On July 20, 2009, herein petitioner, retired SPO4 Bienvenido Laud (Laud), filed an Urgent Motion to Quash and to Suppress Illegally Seized Evidence9 premised on the following grounds: (a) Judge Peralta had no authority to act on the application for a search warrant since he had been automatically divested of his position asVice Executive Judge when several administrative penalties were imposed against him by the Court;10 (b) the Manila-RTC had no jurisdiction to issue Search Warrant No. 09-14407 which was to be enforced in Davao City;11 (c) the human remains sought to be seized are not a proper subject of a search warrant;12 (d) the police officers are mandated to follow the prescribed procedure for exhumation of human remains;13 (e) the search warrant was issued despite lack of probable cause;14 (f) the rule against forum shopping was violated;15 and (g) there was a violation of the rule requiring one specific offense and the proper specification of the place to be searched and the articles to be seized.16 The Manila-RTC Ruling In an Order17 dated July 23, 2009, the Manila-RTC granted the motion of Laud "after a careful consideration [of] the grounds alleged [therein]."

Aside from this general statement, the said Order contained no discussion on the particular reasons from which the Manila-RTC derived its conclusion. Respondent, the People of the Philippines (the People), filed a Motion for Reconsideration18 which was, however, denied in an Order19 dated December 8, 2009, wherein the Manila-RTC, this time, articulated its reasons for the warrant's quashal, namely: (a) the People failed to show any compelling reason to justify the issuanceof a search warrant by the Manila RTC which was to be implemented in Davao City where the offense was allegedly committed, in violation of Section 2, Rule 126 of the Rules of Court;20 (b) the fact that the alleged offense happened almost four (4) years before the search warrant application was filed rendered doubtful the existence of probable cause;21 and (c) the applicant, i.e., the PNP, violated the rule against forum shopping as the subject matter of the present search warrant application is exactly the sameas the one contained in a previous application22 before the RTC of Davao City, Branch 15 (Davao-RTC) which had been denied.23 Unconvinced, the People filed a petition for certioraribefore the CA, docketed as CA-G.R. SP.

No. 113017. The CA Ruling In a Decision24 dated April 25, 2011, the CA granted the People's petition and thereby annulled and set aside the Orders of the Manila-RTC for having been tainted with grave abuse of discretion. It held that the requirements for the issuance of a search warrant were satisfied, pointing out that an application therefor involving a heinous crime, such as Murder, is an exception to the compelling reasons requirement under Section 2, Rule 126 of the Rules of Court as explicitly recognized in A.M. No. 99-20-09-SC25 and reiterated in A.M. No. 03-8-02-SC,26 provided that the application is filed by the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOC-TF) or the Reaction Against Crime Task Force (REACT-TF),27 with the endorsement of its head, before the RTC of Manila or Quezon City, and the warrant be consequently issued by the Executive Judge or Vice-Executive Judge of either of the said courts, as in this case.28 Also, the CA found that probable cause was established since, among others, witness Avasola deposed and testified that he personally witnessed the murder of six (6) persons in December 2005 and was actually part of the group that buried the victims - two bodies in each of the three (3) caves.29 Further, it observed that the Manila-RTC failed to consider the fear of reprisal and natural reluctance of a witness to get involved in a criminal case, stating that these are sufficient reasons to justify the delay attending the application of a search warrant.30 Accordingly, it deemed that the physical evidence of a protruding human bone in plain view in one of the caves, and Avasola's first-hand eye witness account both concur and point to the only reasonable conclusion that the crime ofMurder had been committed and that the human remains of the victims were located in the Laud Compound.31 Finally, the CA debunked the claim of forum shopping, finding that the prior application for a search warrant filed before the Davao-RTC was based on facts and circumstances different from those in the application filed before the Manila-RTC.32 Dissatisfied, Laud moved for reconsideration which was, however, denied in a Resolution33 dated October 17, 2011,hence, this petition.

The Issues Before the Court The issues for the Court's resolution are as follows: (a) whether the administrative penalties imposed on Judge Peralta invalidated Search Warrant No. 09-14407; (b) whether the Manila-RTC had jurisdiction to issue the said warrant despite non-compliance with the compelling reasons requirement under Section 2, Rule126 of the Rules of Court; (c) whether the requirements of probable cause and particular description were complied with and the one-specific-offense rule under Section 4, Rule 126 of the Rules of Court was violated; and (d) whether the applicant for the search warrant,i.e., the PNP, violated the rule against forum shopping.1âwphi1 The Court's Ruling The petition has no merit. A. Effect of Judge Peralta's Administrative Penalties.