Facts: Edna Edwina Reyes testified that appellant Gabriel Gerente,
together with Fredo Echigoren and Totoy Echigoren, started drinking
liquor and smoking marijuana in the house of the appellant which is
about six (6) meters away from the house of the prosecution witness
who was in her house on that day. She overheard the three men
talking about their intention to kill Clarito Blace. Appellant allegedly
agreed: “Sigue, papatayin natin mamaya.” Fredo and Totoy Echigoren
and Gerente carried out their plan to kill Clarito Blace at about 2:00
p.m. of the same day. The prosecution witness, Edna Edwina Reyes,
testified that she witnessed the killing. Fredo Echigoren struck the first
blow against Clarito Blace, followed by Totoy Echigoren and Gabriel
Gerente who hit him twice with a piece of wood in the head and when
he fell, Totoy Echigoren dropped a hollow block on the victim’s head.
Thereafter, the three men dragged Blace to a place behind the house
of Gerente. At about 4:00 p.m. of the same day, Patrolman Jaime
Urrutia of the Valenzuela Police Station received a report from the
Palo Police Detachment about a mauling incident. He went to the
Valenzuela District Hospital where the victim was brought. He was
informed by the hospital officials that the victim died on arrival. The
cause of death was massive fracture of the skull caused by a hard and
heavy object. Right away, Patrolman Urrutia, together with Police
Corporal Romeo Lima and Patrolman Alex Umali, proceeded to Paseo
de Blas where the mauling incident took place. There they found a
piece of wood with blood stains, a hollow block and two roaches of
marijuana. They were informed by the prosecution witness, Edna
Edwina Reyes that she saw the killing and she pointed to Gabriel
Gerente as one of the three men who killed Clarito. The policemen
proceeded to the house of the appellant who was then sleeping. They
told him to come out of the house and they introduced themselves as
policemen. Patrolman Urrutia frisked appellant and found a coin purse
in his pocket which contained dried leaves wrapped in cigarette foil.
The dried leaves were sent to the National Bureau of Investigation for
examination. The Forensic Chemist found them to be marijuana. When
arraigned the appellant pleaded not guilty to both charges. A joint
trial of the two cases was held. The trial court rendered a decision
convicting him of Violation of Section 8 of R.A. 6425 and of Murder.
Issue: Whether the Personal Knowledge of the policeman of the crime
committed by the accused is justified and valid in arresting the latter
without securing an arrest and search warrant.
Held: Yes, “To hold that no criminal can, in any case, be arrested and
searched for the evidence and tokens of his crime without a warrant,
would be to leave society, to a large extent, at the mercy of the
shrewdest, the most expert, and the most depraved of criminals,
facilitating their escape in many instances.” The policemen arrested
Gerente only some 3 hours after Gerente and his companions had
killed Blace. They saw Blace dead in the hospital and when they
inspected the scene of the crime, they found the instruments of death:
a piece of wood and a concrete hollow block which the killers had
used to bludgeon him to death. The eye-witness, Edna Edwina Reyes,
reported the happening to the policemen and pinpointed her
neighbor, Gerente, as one of the killers. Under those circumstances,
since the policemen had personal knowledge of the violent death of
Blace and of facts indicating that Gerente and two others had killed
him, they could lawfully arrest Gerente without a warrant. If they had
postponed his arrest until they could obtain a warrant, he would have
fled the law as his two companions did. The search conducted on
Gerente’s person was likewise lawful because it was made as an
incident to a valid arrest. This is in accordance with Section 12, Rule
126 of the Revised Rules of Court which provides that Search incident
to lawful arrest. — A person lawfully arrested may be searched for
dangerous weapons or anything which may be used as proof of the
commission of an offense, without a search warrant.” The frisk and
search of appellant’s person upon his arrest was a permissible
precautionary measure of arresting officers to protect themselves, for
the person who is about to be arrested may be armed and might
attack them unless he is first disarmed.
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