QC court junks firearms case, orders release of labor organizer

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QC court junks firearms case, orders release of labor organizer

Mike Navallo,

ABS-CBN News

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MANILA — A Quezon City court has ordered the release and dismissed the illegal possession of firearms case against a labor organizer who was among the 7 human rights activists arrested in December 2020, collectively known as “HRD7.”

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 220 Judge Jose Paneda, in an order dated March 2, granted Dennise Velasco’s omnibus motion which sought to quash the search warrant, suppress evidence and dismiss the case against him.

“Considering that the search and seizure warrant in this case was procured in violation of the Constitution and the Rules of Court, all the items seized in accused’s house, being ‘fruits of the poisonous tree,’ are inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding. Hence, the complaints filed against accused Velasco for illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions and explosive based on illegally obtained evidence have no more leg to stand on,” he said.

Velasco was arrested on human rights day, December 10, 2020, in separate service of search warrants by police officers, which included journalist Lady Ann Salem and trade unionist Rodrigo Esparago.

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Velasco, Salem, Esparago and 4 others were accused of operating a gun-running syndicate — an allegation they have denied.

Salem and Esparago were released in March last year after a Mandaluyong court junked the case against them.

Like Salem and Esparago, Velasco said he was arrested in the wee hours of the morning on the basis of an illegally-issued general search warrant, which he said was irregularly implemented as it involved planting of evidence.

Judge Paneda sided with Velasco in ruling that the search warrant issued by Quezon City Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert was issued without probable cause because her examination of the applicant for a search warrant and witnesses “fell short of the required probing and exhaustive inquiry for the determination of the existence of probable cause.”

“Nowhere, however, in the affidavit and testimonies of witnesses, Pat. [_____] Ambuyoc and PCPT [____] Visco, was it mentioned that they have personal knowledge of accused’s lack of license or permit to carry a firearm. When asked by the issuing judge, PCPT Visco merely affirmed that he made the request for verification report to confirm if the persons allegedly in possession of the firearms are licensed to possess or not. This, however, does not meet the requirement that a witness must testify on his personal knowledge, not belief,” he said.

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“It did not even occur to the examining judge to clarify with the police officers how they conducted the surveillance confirmatory operation against Rodrigo Esparago’s group on November 27, 2020,” he added, reproducing the portions of the two cops’ testimonies admitting they merely relied on the information about the supposed illegal activity and surveillance from informant “Geronimo.”

Paneda also faulted the “lack of particularity in the description of the electronic devices” in the search warrant which “allowed the raiding team to exercise unbridled discretion to confiscate virtually all evidence that they believed matched the items listed in the assailed search warrants.”

In the case of Salem and Esparago, a Mandaluyong court also struck down Burgos-Villavert’s search warrant for being “vague,” accusing the police of undertaking a “fishing expedition.”

Because the search warrant was voided, the court said the seized articles were inadmissible in evidence and the criminal cases “have no more leg to stand on.”

REACTION

Velasco’s lawyers from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) welcomed the ruling, saying the findings of the Quezon City court prove “how State forces are hell-bent at quelling the exercise of labor rights being promoted by trade union organizers such as Velasco as well as activists in general.”

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“The police and their perjured witnesses had been so desperate to pin down the trade union efforts of Velasco that they even went to the bounds of concocting the fantastic narratives against him and the 5 other trade union organizers, including Salem, that they are purported members of a gun-running syndicate,” they said in a statement.

“Lamentably, this case is another proof at how the law has been weaponized against the exercise of freedoms and rights and the justice system twisted to a certain extent, which institutions should have been one of the people's recourse when their rights and freedoms are trampled upon,” they added.

With the dismissal of Velasco’s case and the earlier junking of Salem’s and Esparago’s cases, only 4 of the HRD7 remain behind bars.

A Manila court in April last year denied a motion to quash filed by trade unionist Joel Demate while a Quezon City court, in May last year, also denied a similar motion filed by labor organizers Romina Astudillo, Mark Ryan Cruz, and Jaymie Gregorio, Jr.

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