LEA 4 – Law Enforcement Operations and

Planning with Crime Mapping

Dr. Philip B. Magtaan, Part-time Instructor
 CHAPTER 3
Constitutional and Statutory
Rights of persons subject by Law
Enforcement Operations
CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL BASES OF HUMAN RIGHTS
PROTECTION

1. 1987 Philippine Constitution Article 2, Section 4-5

• The Government exists to maintain peace and order, and protect
life, liberty and property, as well as promote the general welfare of
the people.

2. 1987 Philippine Constitution Article 2, Sections 10-11

• The State is responsible for promoting social justice and recognizes
the value of human dignity and respect for human rights.
3. 1987 Philippine Constitution Article 2, Section 22
• The State recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous
cultural communities within the framework of national unity
and development.

4. 1987 Philippine Constitution Article 3, Section 1-22

• The State recognizes, promotes, and protects the rights of all
citizens as defined in the Bill of Rights.
5. 1987 Philippine Constitution Article I3, Section 1
• Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that
protect and enhance the rights of all the people to human dignity,
reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural
inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the
common good.

6. 1987 Philippine Constitution Article 15, Section 3

• The State shall defend the right of children to assistance, including
proper care and nutrition, and special protection from all forms of
neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to
their development.
HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS
• International human rights law is binding on all States and
their agents, including law enforcement officials. Human
Rights is a legitimate subject for international law and
international scrutiny. Law enforcement officials are obliged to
know, and to apply, international standards for human rights.
• Law enforcement officials shall at all times fulfil the duty
imposed on them by law, by serving the community and by
protecting all persons against illegal acts, consistent with the
high degree of responsibility required by their profession.
• Law enforcement officials shall not commit any act of corruption.
They shall rigorously oppose and combat all such acts.

• Law enforcement officials shall respect and protect human dignity

and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons.

• Law enforcement officials shall report violations of those laws, codes

and sets of principles which protect and promote human rights.

• All police action shall respect the principles of legality, necessity, non-
discrimination, proportionality and humanity.
LAW ENFORCEMENT INVESTIGATIONS
• In investigations, the interviewing of witnesses, victims and suspects,
personal searches, searches of vehicles and premises, and the
interception of correspondence and communications:

ARREST
• It is beyond the authority of law enforcement agencies to take the
person in custody for violation
DETENTION
• Pre-trial detention shall be the exception, rather than the rule.

USE OF FORCE AND FIREARMS

• Everyone has the rights to life, security of the person, and freedom
from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and
punishment. Non-violent means are to be attempted first.
PERMISSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THE USE OF FIREARMS

• Firearms are to be used only in extreme circumstances. Firearms are

to be used only in self-defense or defense of others against imminent
threat of death or serious injury:
• To prevent a particularly serious crime that involves a grave threat
to life
• To arrest or prevent the escape of a person posing such a threat
and who is resisting efforts to stop the threat
• In every case, only when less extreme measures are insufficient
• Intentionally lethal use of force and firearms shall be permitted only
when strictly unavoidable in order to protect human life
CIVIL DISORDER, STATES OF EMERGENCY AND ARMED CONFLICT

• Maximum Tolerance - means the highest degree of restraint that the

military, police and other peace keeping authorities shall observe
during a public assembly or in the dispersal of the same (BP 880).
STATES OF EMERGENCY
• States of emergency may only be declared in conformity with
the law. States of emergency may only be declared where a
public emergency threatens the life of the nation, and where
ordinary measures are plainly inadequate to address the
situation. States of emergency must be officially declared
before exceptional measures may be taken.
ARMED CONFLICT
• During armed conflicts and occupation, police are to be
considered non-combatants, unless formally incorporated into
the armed forces. Police have a right to abstain from fulfilling
their functions under occupation, by reason of conscience,
and this shall not result in an alteration of their status.
Humanitarian law applies in all situations of armed conflict.
RIGHTS OF PERSON UNDER CUSTODIAL INVESTIGATION

• Republic Act 7438 – an act defining certain rights of persons

arrested detained or under custodial investigation as well as
duties of the arresting, detaining, and investigating officers,
and providing penalties for violations thereof.
• Any person arrested, detained or under custodial
investigation shall at all times be assisted by counsel.

• Inform the subject in a language known to and

understood by him, of his rights to remain silent and to
have a competent and independent counsel,
preferably of his own choice. If such person cannot
afford the services of his own counsel, he must be
provided with a competent and independent counsel
by investigating officer.
• Custodial investigation report shall be reduced to writing by the investigating
officer, provided that before such report is signed, or thumb-marked if the person
arrested or detained does not know how to read and write, it shall be read and
adequately explained to him by the counsel or by the assisting counsel provided
by the investigating officer in the language or dialect known to such arrested or
detained person, otherwise such investigation report shall be null and void and of
no effect whatsoever.

• Any extra judicial confession made by a person arrested, detained or under

custodial investigation shall in be writing and signed by such person in the
presence of his counsel or in the latter’s absence, upon a valid waiver, and in the
presence any of the parents, elder brothers or sisters, his spouse, the municipal
mayor, municipal judge, district school supervisor, or priest/minister of the gospel
as chosen by him; otherwise such extrajudicial confession shall be inadmissible as
evidence in any proceeding.
• Any waiver by a person arrested or detained under the provisions of Art. 125
of the Revised Penal Code, or under custodial investigation, shall be in writing
and signed by such person in the presence of counsel, otherwise the waiver
shall be null and void and of no effect.

• Any person arrested or detained or under custodial investigation shall be

allowed visits by or conferences with any member of his immediate family, or
any medical doctor or priest or religious minister chosen by him or by any
member of his immediate family or by his counsel, or by any national non-
governmental organization duly accredited by the Commission on Human
Rights or by International non-governmental organization duly accredited by
the Office of the President. The person’s immediate family shall include his/her
spouse, fiance or fiancee, parent or child, brother or sister, grandparent or
grandchild, uncle or aunt, nephew or niece and guardian or ward
THE MIRANDA DOCTRINE
• Ernesto Miranda, a produce worker, was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona in 1963
and charged with kidnapping and rape. After being identified by the victim in a
police lineup, Miranda was taken into an interrogation room and questioned for
two hours by detectives. At no time was Miranda informed that he had a right to
have an attorney present. When the police emerged from the session, they had
a signed statement by Miranda confessing to the crimes. He was subsequently
convicted and sentence to twenty to thirty years in prison. After the conviction
was affirmed by the Arizona Supreme Court, Miranda appealed to the United
States Supreme Court, claiming that he had not been warned that any
statement he made could be used against him, and that he had a right to
counsel during interrogation. The Miranda Case was one of the four cases
examined by the Court that dealt with the question of coercive questioning.
• The Court overturned Miranda’s conviction, stating that police
interrogations are, by their very nature, coercive and
therefore deny suspects their constitutional right against self-
incrimination by “forcing” them to confess. Consequently, any
person who has been arrested and placed in custody must be
informed of his or her right to be free from self-incrimination
and be represented by counsel during any interrogation. In
other words, suspects must be told that they do not have to
answer police questions. To accomplish this, the Court
establish the Miranda warning which must be read prior to
questioning of a suspect in custody.
The MIRANDA RIGHTS
• You Have the Right to Remain Silent
• Anything You Say Can Be Used Against You in a Court of
Law
• You Have the Right to Have an Attorney Present
• If You Cannot Afford an Attorney, One Will Be Appointed to
You
THE ANTI-TORTURE WARNING (Republic Act 9745)
• You have the right to demand physical examination by an
independent and competent doctor of your choice. If you cannot
afford the services of a doctor, the state shall provide one for you.

• In order to ensure that the person arrested is free from torture and
other similar injuries prior to his submission to person in authority,
the said person must be subjected to physical examination by the
doctor of his choice and/or in any government hospital.