PICOP VS ASUNCION, GR NO.

122092 MAY 19, 1999, 307 SCRA 253

FACTS
Police Chief Inspector Napoleon B. Pascua applied for a search warrant before the Regional
Trial Court of Quezon City on the allegation that Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines
(PICOP) is in possession of high powered firearms, ammunitions and explosives, and that such are
kept within their premises. Judge Maximiano C Asuncion issued the search warrant.
Attached to the application were the joint deposition of SPO3 Cicero Bacolod and SPO2
Cecilio Morito, as well as the summary of the information and supplementary statements of Mario
Enad and Felipe Moreno.
Petitioners filed a Motion to Quash and Motion to Suppress Evidence as they believe that
the warrant was invalid and the search unreasonable.
ISSUE
Whether or not the issuance of Search Warrant is valid.
RULING
No.
The fundamental right against unreasonable searches and seizures and the basic conditions
for the issuance of a search warrant are laid down in Section 2, Article III of The 1987
Constitution. Consistent with this Constitutional provision, Rule 126 of the Rules of Court details
the requisites for the issuance of a valid search warrant under Sections 3 and 4.
These requisites are: 1) probable cause is present; 2) such presence is determined
personally by the judge; 3) the complainant and the witnesses he or she may produce are personally
examined by the judge, in writing and under oath or affirmation; 4) the applicant and the witnesses
testify on facts personally known to them; and 5) the warrant specifically describes the place to be
searched and the things to be seized.
In the present case, the search warrant is invalid because: 1) the trail court failed to examine
personally the complainant and the other deponents; 2) SPO3 Cicero Bacolod, who appeared
during the hearing for the issuance or the search warrant, had no personal knowledge that
petitioners were not licensed to possess the subject firearms; and 3) the place to be searched was
not described with particularity.
Except for Pascua and Bacolod, none of the mentioned witnesses and policemen appeared
before the trial court. Records showed that the hearing for the issuance of the search warrant was
limited only to the introduction of witness Bacolod and that witness Pascua even failed to affirm
his application. Bacolod’s testimony also showed that he did not have personal knowledge of the
facts alleged that petitioners were not licensed to possess the subject firearms.
The Court noted that the search warrant failed to describe the place with particularity. It
simply authorized a search of only one place and that is the “Paper Industries Corporation of the
Philippines, located at PICOP Compound, Barangay Tabon, Bislig, Surigao del Sur." The PICOP
compound, however, is made up of "200 offices/building, 15 plants, 84 staff houses, 1 airstrip, 3
piers/wharves, 23 warehouses, 6 POL depots/quick service outlets and some 800 miscellaneous
structures, all of which are spread out over some one hundred fifty-five hectares. The Court
observed that such warrant gives the police officers unbridled and illegal authority to search all the
structures found inside the PICOP compound.
The search warrant is invalid.
Petition is granted.