FACTS:
Pursuant to the anti-smut campaign of the City of Manila, elements of the police force seized and confiscated from dealers, distributors, newsstand owners and peddlers along Manila sidewalks, magazines, publications and other reading materials believed to be obscene, pornographic and indecent and later burned the seized materials in public. Among the publications seized and later burned were magazines published and co-edited by petitioner.
ISSUE(S):
Whether or not the search and seizure was lawful.
HELD:
NO. Private respondents were not possessed of a lawful court order: (1) finding the said materials to be pornography, and (2) authorizing them to carry out a search and seizure, by way of a search warrant.
Petition is GRANTED. Decision of the respondent court is REVERSED and SET ASIDE.
