Illegal arrest acquits 2 from drug charges

Banking on the illegality of the arrest, Regional Trial Court Branch 15 Presiding Judge Fortunato de Gracia Jr. acquitted two men charged with possessing more than a kilo of shabu.

The case stemmed from the July 4 arrest of Juan Velez and Eugene Yu Alegre inside a pension house in Capitol Site. Allegedly seized from them were six packs of shabu weighing 885.05 grams and another two packs weighing 189.04 grams.

Velez and Alegre were arrested based on a tip from an informant to the police during a follow-up operation that same day when several other suspected drug peddlers, including SPO4 Efren Quijano of the Regional Intelligence Office, were also arrested.

A team led by Insp. George Ylanan arrested Velez of Kamagong, barangay Lahug, and Alegre of Cagayan de Oro City, who at that time was renting a room in the pension house. The operatives reportedly confiscated 189.04 grams of shabu placed in two big plastic packs inside the room.

Then an inspection of Alegre's white Mitsubishi Lancer allegedly yielded another six big packs of shabu weighing 885.05 grams.

During the trial, Alegre denied the charges, stating that the police searched his car without his consent. He said some of his items, including P600,000 cash, were lost during the inspection.

Confessing his innocence, Velez, for his part, said he was about to see Alegre, whom he had never met for several years, when the police barged into the room.

In his 13-page decision, de Gracia said: "No body, not even the king and his sheriffs, may trespass and molest the peace and tranquility of his abode, however humble and ruined it may be,"

The raiding team claimed that the packs of shabu were in "plain view." But de Gracia was not convinced, citing the police's forcible entry that broke the lock of the door of Alegre's rented room.

A certification from the pension house asking the team to pay for the ruined door lock was submitted as evidence.

De Gracia said the court "believes and so holds that the entry was without authority of law and the arrest of both accused (was) unlawful."

He added that what was recovered by the police was "not admissible as evidence in any court of law." - Liv G. Campo