Nelson Morales

Former Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) Chief, PBGen. Nicolas D. Torre attends a hearing called by the Senate on September 5, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

Article (news)

Job Manahan

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1740295059498173735655619120230905-ph-senate-qcpd-torre-JC1444.webp" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Former Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) Chief, PBGen. Nicolas D. Torre attends a hearing called by the Senate on September 5, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File"/>Former Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) Chief, PBGen. Nicolas D. Torre attends a hearing called by the Senate on September 5, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</div>MANILA — The head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on Sunday urged a vlogger to sign a counter-affidavit and detail supposed irregularities in the service of a search warrant for his devices.The warrant was related to a complaint that Police Major Gen. Nicolas Torre III filed with the police Anti-Cybercrime Group against vlogger Jun Abines over a post suggesting the police official was in the hospital.Abines, in his post, was asking if it was true that Torre was sick and he attributed a photo supposedly showing Torre on a hospital bed &quot;CTTO&quot;, or &quot;credits to the owner&quot;.Abines, in a separate Facebook post, claimed police officials confiscated his laptops and phones without giving him an opportunity to close his bank and personal accounts during the operation.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/23/house-leaders-laud-cidg-chief-torre-for-suing-vlogger-jun-abines-1152">House leaders praise CIDG chief for suing vlogger accused of spreading &#x27;fake news&#x27;</a></div>“I believe they have illegally tampered [with my cell phone] which was supposed to be the ‘Evidence’ and subject of the search warrant. I insisted they do the search with my lawyer but they ignored me. They did not preserve the’&quot;evidence’ of search,” Abines said in a post.Torre said he would only respond to Abines’ claims if he submits a signed document about what he witnessed during the operation on Saturday midnight. “Ang problema sa mga vloggers na ito, daldal nang daldal, ayaw naman isulat, ayaw naman pirmahan. Para masagot natin nang maayos. I don’t want to dignify those kinds of accusations,” said Torre in a forum. (The problem with these vloggers, they make so many claims but they don&#x27;t want to write it down and sign it. So we can address the allegation properly)<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/1/20/cidg-chief-to-file-cyber-libel-raps-vs-jay-sonza-vlogger-1620">CIDG chief to file cyber libel raps vs Jay Sonza, vlogger</a></div>He said the police Anti-Cybercrime Groups is examining Abines&#x27; gadgets for evidence that will be used in a complaint to be filed in coming days.The official said he filed a complaint against Abines before the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) in his personal capacity, as the misinformation that the social media personality supposedly spread online caused his family and friends to worry about his health. “Ang cybercrime ang nag-file ng kaso at nag-serve ng search warrant, at nag-implement ng search warrant laban sa kanya. Kasinungalingan nanaman,” he said.(It was Cybercrime that filed the case and that served and implemented the search warrant against him. Another lie)The CIDG chief suspects that he became the target of online attack due to the search operations at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) last year that led to <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/9/actual-surrender-arrest-of-apollo-quiboloy-1608">the surrender of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy</a>, who had pending warrants for trafficking and abuse cases.Aside from the false information that he got hospitalized, Torre said some materials labeling him the “Most hated man in the Philippines” and other photos kept on circulating on social media. “Baka bukas pag sinagot natin yan, ‘joke only’ o na-misinterpret.(JC) Tingnan natin kung kaya niyang isulat yan at pirmahan. The problem with these people is they do not own up to anything. Daldal nang daldal pero kapag dinala mo sa korte, biglang aatras,” he said. (If I respond, they might say it was just a joke or that they were misinterpreted. Let&#x27;s see if he will put that in writing. The problem with these people is they do not own up to anything. They say so many things but retract it when you bring them to court)<div>SERVICE OF SEARCH WARRANTS </div>Human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares said in implementing a search warrant the items which would be the subject of a search should be specified. “Hindi puwedeng fishing expedition na lahat si-search mo. Yan ang rules in general sa pag-implement ng search warrant,” Colmenares told ABS-CBN News.(You cannot go on a fishing expedition and search everything. Those are the general rules in implementing a search warrant)“Dati nga may bodycam pang requirement at dapat lang talaga yun pag-nagserve ng search warrant,” he said. (There even used to be a bodycam requirement, and that should really be required)He warned vloggers and other social media personalities that while there is freedom of speech, this should not be abused, citing the cases of trolls, red-tagging, and the spread of disinformation most especially during the elections. “Pwedeng habulin ang mga trolls na nag disinformation, sa panahon ng AI, baka marami at very convincing ang mga AI nila,” he said. (Trolls might be held accountable for disinformation, especially at a time when AI can be very convincing)Sought for comment regarding the serving of search warrant in Abines’ home in Cebu, the Commission on Human Rights said they are still studying the matter.ABS-CBN News sought Abines’ response regarding the incident but he has yet to respond as of this post.

Police Major Gen. Nicolas Torre III said he would only respond to Abines’ claims if he submits a signed document about what he witnessed during the operation on Saturday midnight.

Police Major Gen. Nicolas Torre III said he would only respond to Abines’ claims if he submits a signed document about what he witnessed during the operation on Saturday midnight.

CIDG chief: Vlogger Abines should formalize objections to service of search warrant

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CIDG chief: Vlogger Abines should formalize objections to service of search warrant

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 23, 2025 03:18 PM PHT

|

Updated Feb 23, 2025 03:55 PM PHT

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Philippine National Police

Nicolas Torre III

Jun Abines

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