Alvarez vs. Court of First Instance, 64 Phil. 33

Alvarez vs. Court of First Instance, 64 Phil. 33

Nature: Petition seeking illegality and setting aside of Warrant issued by CFI dated June 3, 1936; Warrant – ordering the search of his house and the seizure, at any time of the day or night, of certain accounting books, documents and papers belonging to him  and authorizing the agents of the Anti-Usury Board to retain the articles seized.

Keywords: Valid Search Warrant, What constitute a reasonable or unreasonable search or seizure

Summary: CFI – ordered search warrant; SC – search warrant declared illegal and set aside, ordered the presiding judge of CFI to return all the documents to the petitioner.

Facts:

On June 3, 1936, the chief of the secret service of the Anti-Usury Board, of the Department of Justice, presented to Judge Eduardo Gutierrez David then presiding over the Court of First Instance of Tayabas, an affidavit alleging that according to reliable information, the petitioner kept in his house in Infanta, Tayabas, books, documents, receipts, lists, chits and other papers used by him in connection with his activities as a money-lender charging usurious rates of interest in violation of the law. In his oath at the end of the affidavit, the chief of the secret service stated that his answers to the questions were correct to the best of his knowledge and belief. He did not swear to the truth of his statements upon his own knowledge of the facts but upon the information received by him from a reliable person. Upon the affidavit in question the Judge, on said date, issued the warrant which is the subject matter of the petition, ordering the search of the petitioner's house at any time of the day or night, the seizure of the books and documents above-mentioned and the immediate delivery thereof to him to be disposed of in accordance with the law. With said warrant, several agents of the Anti-Usury Board entered the petitioner's store and residence at seven o'clock on the night of June 4, 1936, and seized and took possession of the following articles: internal revenue licenses for the years 1933 to 1936, one ledger, two journals, two cashbooks, nine order books, four notebooks, four checks stubs, two memorandums, three bankbooks, two contracts, four stubs, forty-eight stubs of purchases of copra, two inventories, two bundles of bills of lading, one bundle of credit receipts, one bundle of stubs of purchases of copra, two packages of correspondence, one receipt book belonging to Luis Fernandez, fourteen bundles of invoices and other papers many documents and loan contracts with security and promissory notes, 504 chits, promissory notes and stubs of used checks of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation. The search for and a seizure of said articles were made with the the opposition of the petitioner who stated his protest below the inventories on the ground that agents seized even the originals of the documents.

Issue:

Whether or not the search warrant issued by the respondent court valid.

Ratio:

No. Search warrant and seizure is declared illegal and set aside.

Ruling:

Section 1, paragraph 3, of Article III of the Constitution, and section 97 of General Orders, No. 58 provide that the affidavit to be presented, which shall serve as the basis for determining whether probable cause exists and whether the warrant should be issued, must contain a particular description of the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized. The only description of the articles given in the affidavit presented to the judge was as follows: "that there are being kept in said premises books, documents, receipts, lists, chits and other papers used by him in connection with his activities as money-lender, charging a usurious rate of interest, in violation of the law."

The search and seizure made are illegal for the following reasons: (a) Because the warrant was based solely upon the affidavit of the petitioner who had no personal knowledge of the facts necessary to determine the existence or non-existence of probable cause, and (b) because the warrant was issued for the sole purpose of seizing evidence which would later be used in the criminal proceedings that might be instituted against the petitioner, for violation of the Anti- Usury Law.

The seizure of books and documents by means of a search warrant, for the purpose of using them as evidence in a criminal case against the person in whose possession they were found, is unconstitutional because it makes the warrant unreasonable, and it is equivalent to a violation of the constitutional provision prohibiting the compulsion of an accused to testify against himself.

For the foregoing considerations, the search warrant and the seizure of June 3, 1936, and the orders of the respondent court authorizing the retention of the books and documents, are declared illegal and are set aside, and it is ordered that the judge presiding over the Court of First Instance of Tayabas direct the immediate return to the petitioner of the nineteen (19) documents designated on pages 1 to 4 of the inventory by Nos. 5, 10, 16, 23, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 45, without special pronouncement as to costs. So ordered. 

Notes:

The true test of sufficiency of a deposition or affidavit to warrant issuance of a search warrant is whether it has been drawn in such a manner that perjury could be charged thereon and affiant be held liable for damages caused.

A search warrant is an order in writing, issued in the name of the People of the Philippine Islands, signed by a judge or a justice of the peace, and directed to a peace officer, commanding him to search for personal property and bring it before the court (section 95, General Orders, No. 58, as amended by section 6 of Act No. 2886). 

In its broadest sense, an oath includes any form of attestation by which a party signifies that he is bound in conscience to perform an act faithfully and truthfully; and it is sometimes defined as an outward pledge given by the person taking it that his attestation or promise is made under an immediate sense of his responsibility to God.

Unreasonable searches and seizures are a menace against which the constitutional guaranties afford full protection. The term "unreasonable search and seizure" is not defined in the Constitution or in General Orders, No. 58, and it is said to have no fixed, absolute or unchangeable meaning, although the term has been defined in general language. All illegal searches and seizures are unreasonable while lawful ones are reasonable. What constitute a reasonable or unreasonable search or seizure in any particular case is purely a judicial question, determinable from a consideration of the circumstances involved, including the purpose of the search, the presence or absence of probable cause, the manner in which the search and seizure was made, the place or thing searched, and the character of the articles procured