GENERAL WARRANT

A general warrant is one that does not allege any specific acts or omissions constituting
the offense charged in the application for the issuance of the warrant. It contravenes the
explicit demand of the Bill of Rights that the things to be seized be particularly described.

VALID WARRANTLESS SEARCH

1. Search made as an incident to lawful arrest

A. An officer making an arrest may take from the person arrested:
i. Any money or property found upon his person which was used in the
commission of the offense or
ii. Was the fruit thereof or
iii. Which might furnish the prisoner with the means of committing violence or
escaping or
iv. Which may be used in evidence in the trial of the case
B. The search must be made simultaneously with the arrest and it may only be made in
the area within the reach of the person arrested

2. Search of moving vehicles

A. This exception is based on exigency. Thus, if there is time to obtain a warrant in
order to search the vehicle, a warrant must first be obtained.
B. The search of a moving vehicle must be based on probable cause.

3. Seizure of goods concealed to avoid customs duties/authorized under the Tariffs and
Customs Code
A. The Tariffs and Customs Code authorizes persons having police authority under the
Code to effect search and seizures without a search warrant to enforce customs laws.
B. Exception: A search warrant is required for the search of a dwelling house.
C. Searches under this exception include searches at borders and ports of entry.
Searches in these areas do not require the existence of probable cause

4. Seizure of evidence in plain view

A. To be a valid warrantless search, the articles must be open to the eye and hand.
B. The peace officer comes upon them inadvertently, and he must have a right to be at
the place at the time when he chances upon the articles.

5. Waiver of right
A. Requisites of a valid waiver: i. The right exists.
ii. The person had actual or constructive knowledge of the existence of such
right.
iii. There is an actual intention to relinquish such right.
B. The right against unreasonable searches and seizures is a personal right. Thus, only
the person being searched can waive the same.
C. Waiver requires a positive act from the person. Mere absence of opposition is not a
waiver.
D. The search made pursuant to the waiver must be made within the scope of the
waiver.

6. Armed Conflict (wartime)

7. Others
 a. Conduct of "Areal Target Zone" and "Saturation Drives" in the exercise of military
powers of the President (Guazon vs. De Villa, 181 SCRA 623)
c. Checkpoints (Valmonte vs. De Villa, 178 SCRA 211)
REQUISITES:
1. Abnormal times
2. Limited to visual Search
3. Vehicle not searched
4. Passengers not subjected to body search
d. Stop and Frisk

i. Even before an arrest, when an officer is justified in believing that the individual whose
suspicious behavior he is investigating at close range is presently dangerous, he may conduct a
limited protective search.
ii. The purpose of this limited search is not to discover evidence of a crime but to allow the
officer to pursue his investigation without risk of violence.
e. Exigent and emergency circumstances best illustrated in People v. De Gracia (233
SCRA 716), where a warrantless search was allowed where there was a prevailing
general chaos and disorder because of an ongoing coup.
Note:
1. Checkpoints: as long as the vehicle is neither searched nor its occupants subjected to a body
search and the inspection of the vehicle is limited to a visual search = valid search (Valmonte V.
De Villa)
2. Carroll rule: warrantless search of a vehicle that can be quickly moved out of the locality or
jurisdiction
3. The 1987 Constitution has returned to the 1935 rule that warrants may be issued only by
judges, but the Commissioner of Immigration may order the arrest of an alien in order to carry
out a FINAL deportation order.

VALID WARRANTLESS ARRESTS

1. When the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is about to

commit an offense in the presence of the arresting officer.
2. When an offense has in fact just been committed and the arresting officer has probable
cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts and circumstances indicating that the
person to be arrested has committed it.
3. When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or
place where he is serving final judgment or temporarily confined while his case is pending, or
has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another.
4. Waiver of an invalid arrest:
When a person who is detained applies for bail, he is deemed to have waived any
irregularity which may have occurred in relation to his arrest. However, if the accused puts up
bail before he enters a plea, he is not barred from later questioning the legality of his arrest.
5. Hot pursuit
A. The pursuit of the offender by the arresting officer must be continuous from the
time of the commission of the offense to the time of the arrest.
B. There must be no supervening event which breaks the continuity of the chase.
6. Stop and frisk
When a policeman observes suspicious activity which leads him to believe that a crime
is about to be committed, he can investigate the suspicious looking person and may frisk him
for weapons as a measure of self-protection. Should he find, however, a weapon on the suspect
which is unlicensed, he can arrest such person then and there for having committed an offense
in the officer’s presence.