This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2003-07-09 |
AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ, J. |
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| WHEREFORE, the Court finds the search conducted by the peace officers on the premises of the accused on March 2, 1999 illegal, all the evidence obtained therefrom is also inadmissible in evidence and hence, the two informations should be dismissed as they are hereby dismissed. The accused is ordered released from custody unless being held for some other crime. The money P70,540.00, taken from the accused should be returned at once. ...[9] In his Comment, respondent MTC Judge explained, thus: He granted the motion to extend the validity of the warrants because the key witness Romeo Collado could not be presented immediately for clarificatory questions in order that a new one may be issued. There was an understanding that whatever be the findings of the trial court on the issue of the extension of the validity of the issued writs, the same should be pursued in the higher Court for purely questions of law. In granting the extension he also considered the ruling in People vs. Narvasa[10] that even if the evidence is missing, the case could still be established through the indubitable testimonies of witnesses. In this case, the testimony of Romeo Collado, which served as the basis for issuance of the original search warrant, could also be used in prosecuting the accused. In line with the campaign of the local government against illegal drugs, his court had the highest number of search warrants issued, i.e., 27 search warrants from January 1998 to May 1999.[11] | |||||