Court favors accused, junks illegal gun possession charge

CEBU, Philippines - The Regional Trial Court has dismissed the criminal case filed against a Cebu City resident arrested for illegal possession of firearms.

Judge Gilbert Moises of RTC Branch 18 ruled that the arrest of Janice Cabugason of V. Rama Avenue, Guadalupe on June 4, 2012, while he was visiting the area where his uncle was killed, was invalid.

"There is no overt act which could be attributed as to rouse the suspicion in the minds of the police officers arresting the accused. The mere act of alighting from a motorcycle and seeing a handle protrude from his waist could not in any way be considered as a criminal act. The handle could have been any other handle and not necessarily that of a gun. Hence, the confiscation and the subsequent arrest were invalid," the decision reads.

Moises directed the Cebu City Jail warden to release Cabugason from their custody unless there are other legal grounds to warrant his further detention.

Police Officer 2 Mark Aniñon of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch of the Cebu City Police Office said that at around 4:45 p.m. on June 4, 2012, they received a report about a shooting alarm along V. Rama Avenue.

They acted on the information and proceeded to the area.

At the crime scene, Aniñon said, a motorcycle stopped. The backrider, who turned out to be Cabugason, alighted with a handle of a firearm exposed from his waistline.

Aniñon said he approached Cabugason and asked for a license but Cabugason failed to present any, prompting the police officer to confiscate the cal. 45 homemade pistol from Cabugason.

Cabugason denied owning the firearm, saying he got surprised when a police officer arrested him right after he alighted from the motorcycle without a warrant of arrest.

Moises ruled in favor of the accused, saying Cabugason, during arrest, was not committing or attempting to commit an offense, but was merely getting off from the motorcycle to take a look at the place where his uncle was killed.

"The manner with which he (Cabugason) was right away arrested when police officer Aniñon saw what he suspected to be the handle of a firearm, clearly did not comply with the requirement laid down by the Rules of Court," the decision further reads. —  (FREEMAN)