Constitutional Law 2 - page 13

FACTS: Accused, a suspected shabu “courier,” was intercepted at a checkpoint set up by a combined team of NARCOM and Coastguard personnel after receiving information that the accused will be arriving aboard a boat at that moment. He obliged to the request for him to open his bag, inside which was found a cigarette pack containing the suspected “shabu.” ISSUE(S): Whether or not the search of the accused’s bag was illegal. HELD: NO. Peace officers may lawfully conduct searches of moving vehicles —automobiles, trucks, etc. — without need of a warrant, it not being practicable to secure a judicial warrant…

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FACTS: Having earlier received a tip from an informer identifying the accused by name who was on board a vessel bound for Iloilo City and was carrying marijuana, the PC officers simply accosted him, inspected his bag and finding what looked like marijuana leaves took him to their headquarters for investigation. The two bundles of suspect articles were confiscated from him and later taken to the NBI laboratory for examination. When they were verified as marijuana leaves, an information for violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act was filed against him and he was eventually convicted. ISSUE(S): Whether or not Aminnudin’s…

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FACTS: Petitioner Fisheries Commissioner through the Philippine Navy seized and impounded two fishing vessels owned by respondent company for illegal fishing with dynamite. ISSUE(S): Whether or not search and seizure of the fishing vessels without a warrant were unlawful. HELD: NO. Search and seizure without search warrant of vessels and air crafts for violations of the customs laws have been the traditional exception to the constitutional requirement of a search warrant. The same exception should apply to seizures of fishing vessels breaching our fishery laws. They are usually equipped with powerful motors that enable them to elude pursuing ships of…

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FACTS: On the strength of the report submitted by the Task Force Bantay Dagat, the PNP Maritime Group boarded and inspected a big fishing boat with the acquiescence of the boat captain. In the course of the inspection, the police discovered a large aquarium full of live fishes. Some of the fishes were tested to contain cyanide. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the search of the fishing boat was lawful. HELD: YES. Search and seizure without search warrant of vessels and aircrafts for violations of customs laws have been the traditional exception to the constitutional requirement of a search warrant. It…

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FACTS: Accused was arrested following a buy-bust operation. Police operatives searched his mat, pillow and blanket, recovering one marijuana stick. However, the buyer still had the marked money in his hand. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the confiscated marijuana stick is admissible in evidence. HELD: NO. Apart from the uncertainty among the witnesses as to how many marijuana cigarettes, if any, were found in accused’s possession during the raid, the search in his shack was made without a warrant, hence, the marijuana cigarette or cigarettes seized in that raid were inadmissible as evidence Appealed decision is REVERSED and SET ASIDE.

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FACTS: Appellant was arrested as a result of a “buy-bust” operation. The arresting officer frisked him and recovered the marked money and found 17 more sticks of marijuana on appellant’s person. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the arrest and search violated appellant’s constitutional right. HELD: NO. The accused-appellant was arrested in flagrante delicto as a result of the entrapment and so came under Section 5, Rule 113 of the Rules of Court, authorizing a warrantless arrest of any person actually committing a crime. The search was made as an incident of a lawful arrest and so was also lawful under Section…

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FACTS: After receiving a confidential report from their informant, a buy-bust operation was conducted by a team from the 13th Narcotics Regional Unit to catch the pusher/s. At the scene, it was the accused-appellant who first negotiated with the poseur-buyer. Appellant instructed his co-accused to give one aluminum foil of marijuana which the latter got from his pants’ pocket and delivered it to the buyer. After ascertaining that the authenticity of the marijuana, the agent gave signal. The two accused were arrested. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the arrest was valid. HELD: YES. While it is conceded that in a buy-bust…

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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…

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FACTS: A team of operatives rushed inside appellant’s house to arrest him after a “buy-bust” operation and conducted a search of the premises in the presence of a barangay official, the house owner and appellant himself. The search yielded dried marijuana fruiting tops and seeds. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the arrest and search were valid. HELD: YES. Appellant was arrested in flagrante delicto in the act of selling and delivering marijuana to the poseur-buyers. The subsequent search of his house which immediately followed yielding other incriminating evidence, and which became the basis of his conviction for possession of a prohibited…

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FACTS: Due to persistent reports that vehicles coming from Sagada were transporting marijuana and other prohibited drugs, a temporary checkpoint was set up for the checking of all vehicles coming from the Cordillera Region. During their inspection of a bus, one of the officers noticed a bulge, suspected to be a gun, on accused’s waist. The bulging object turned out to be a pouch bag and found therein hashish, a derivative of marijuana. Accused was carrying two travelling bags, each containing a teddy bear with bulges inside which did not feel like foam stuffing. The accused was arrested, tried and…

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