Bodycam requirement before court warrant hampers probe of missing ‘sabungeros’ — PNP

PNP-CIDG Director General Albert Ferro speaks during the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs in the case of the missing cockfight aficionados. Screengrab from Senate livestream

MANILA, Philippines — The implementation of the requirement for body cameras before the court grants the Philippine National Police’s applications for search warrants has been saddling the cops’ investigation of the case of the missing cockfight aficionados recently.

PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) Director General Albert Ferro bared this during the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, which is conducting a probe into the e-sabong operations in the country in connection with the disappearance of 31 cockfighters.

Ferro said the lack of search warrants have hampered their efforts to locate the missing cockfighting enthusiasts.

“There’s a seeming predicament that all of us are facing, especially in the application of search warrant. Madali lang sana ‘to kung ‘yung (It would be easy if the) search warrant is similar sa mga nakaraang panahon (in past applications) wherein today, as we speak, the number of search warrant being approved by the different courts in our country is dwindling because of the stringent requirement, especially ‘yung (the) body-worn camera,” he said.

In July 2021, the Supreme Court came out with an administrative matter requiring law enforcement officers to use body-worn cameras when implementing search and arrest warrants.

Failure of the law enforcers to comply will render the evidence seized inadmissible for the prosecution of the offense for which the search warrant was applied.

But Ferro claimed that CIDG has yet to be issued body cameras due to limited supply, prompting Lacson to suggest the redeployment of the facility to cops who will serve the search warrants.

“Baka pwedeng i-redeploy ‘yung ano (body cameras), para lang sa kasong ‘to. Mag-redeploy kayo ng body cameras para maka-comply sa requirement ng search warrant,” said Lacson, himself a former chief of the PNP.

(Maybe we can redeploy body cameras for this case to comply with the requirement for a search warrant.)

Senator Ronald dela Rosa, the Senate panel chair, backed Lacson’s suggestion.

“Pull out lang ninyo then redeploy. Kung CIDG wala, bigyan niyo. Pahiramin niyo CIDG ng body-worn camera. Oo, temporary lang para maka-comply kayo sa requirement ng court,” he said.

(Just pull out then redeploy. Id the CIDG has none, lend them body-worn cameras. It is only temporary just to comply with the court’s requirement.)

According to PNP chief Dionardo Carlos, the police force has over 2,000 body-worn cameras with approved specifications.

Early on Thursday, the Senate panel moved to halt e-sabong operations until the cases of the missing cockfighters have been resolved.

EDV