Gavel in court Image: rawpixel/Unsplash
MANILA, Philippines — A Quezon City Regional Trial Court has ordered the release of labor leader Dennise Velasco, who is among the seven human rights activists arrested in December 2020.
In an order dated March 2, 2022, QCRTC Branch 220 Judge Jose Paneda dismissed the criminal case against Velasco for violating the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunitions Regulations Act.
“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 the 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, ammunition, and explosives based on illegally obtained evidence have no more leg to stand on,” the court said.
The court issued the ruling after Velasco, through his counsels from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) filed an Omnibus Motion to Quash Search Warrant, Suppress Evidence, and to Dismiss the case.
Velasco was arrested together with journalist Lady Ann Salem and trade unionist Rodrigo Esparago on December 10, 2020, pursuant to separate search warrants. Esparago, Salem, Velasco, and four others were allegedly involved in gun-running operations.
Esparago and Salem were ordered released in March last year after a Mandaluyong court declared that there is not enough evidence against the two.
In the case of Velasco, the court said the search warrant was issued without conducting “a probing and exhaustive” examination on the pieces of evidence presented by the police. The search warrant which Velasco’s counsel said was irregularly implemented was issued by Quezon City Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert, the same judge that issued the search warrant that led to the arrest of Salem and Esparago.
“Nowhere, however, in the affidavit and testimonies of witnesses, Patrolman Ambuyoc and Police Captain Visco, was it mentioned that they have personal knowledge of the 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,” read the court’s ruling.
The court also noted that the examining court did not even “clarify with the police officers how they conducted the surveillance confirmatory operation against Rodrigo Esparago’s group on November 27, 2020.”
The court said that both Ambuyoc and Visco just relied on an informant’s information of an alleged gun-running operation.
“Both applicant and his witnesses did not have personal knowledge of the accused’s lack of license to possess firearms, ammunition and explosives; and the evidence presented before the court are insufficient to prove the existence of probable cause. Hence, the search and seizure warrant issued on the basis of evidence presented is void,” the court said.
NUPL, in a statement, welcomed the court’s ruling saying that the court findings are proof “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.”
“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 added.
Still in detention, however, are trade unionist Joel Demate and labor organizers Romina Astudillo, Mark Ryan Cruz, and Jaymie Gregorio Jr.
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