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Sunday, April 03, 2005
Brothers claim raid illegal, request judge to overturn warrant
THE counsel of the Alegres brothers and a neighbor has asked the court to quash the search warrant issued against the house of the brothers’ parents earlier this year, which resulted in their arrest and detention.
Jerome and Junrey Alegres and Joseph Santiago are a facing heinous drug case, as the quantity of drugs allegedly seized was more than 50 grams.
Lawyer Dennis Sanoy told the court that the police not only searched the wrong house but also conducted it without a barangay official.
Sanoy said his clients were at the neighbors’ house when the raid was made and were just dragged there by police during the operation.
Chief Insp. Rex Derilo, raiding team leader, denied the accusations.
Meanwhile, Regional Trial Court Branch 27 Judge Jesus de la Peña has yet to grant the motion, which will spell freedom for the accused, otherwise, the hearing on the case will start.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7, armed with search warrant, stormed the house of Vicente and Laura Alegres in Lapu-Lapu City last Feb. 16.
Seized shabu
The search yielded 72.47 grams of shabu, and police arrested Jermone and Junrey, together with Santiago.
Vicente and Laura eluded arrest, but they were included in the charges.
Last Friday, Judge de la Peña issued a commitment order for the transfer of the three suspects from the CIDG detention to the Lapu-Lapu City jail in Barangay Mactan.
This surprised CIDG officials because no arrest warrant was issued against the detained suspects and the Alegres couple, prior to the issuance of commitment order.
They said an arrest warrant is the basis for the issuance of a commitment order.
Court discretion
Former Lapu-Lapu City prosecutor Celso Espinosa, for his part, said it is upon the court’s discretion to issue an arrest warrant if evidence on hand is enough.
He was told, though, that the prosecutor already elevated the complaint to court so there is already probable cause that the crime was committed.
But Espinosa said the prosecutor’s probable cause is different from the judge’s probable cause to warrant the issuance of an arrest order for the suspects.
Court researcher Dolores Lagrimas said no warrant has been issued yet because of the pending motion to quash.
The detention of the three is based on the search warrant executed by CIDG.
But CIDG officials did not motion the court to issue an arrest warrant for Vicente and Laura, who were still at-large as of yesterday.
Sanoy, in his motion, stated that the Alegres sold the house, which was the subject of the raid, to Eva Estrella on Jan. 20, 2001 yet.
But Derilo belied this, saying Sun.Star Cebu photographer Amper Campaña took a shot of the couple’s wedding, which appeared in the newspaper last Feb. 18, from a framed photograph on top of the shelf in house’s living room.
CIDG also showed a photograph of the shelf with the framed picture taken by Campaña.
That same house, according to Derilo, was raided for drugs in 2003 by CIDG official Senior Insp. German Mallari and Vicente, and Laura did not make this disclaimer.
Sanoy, for his part, said the search had already begun when barangay tanods Agapito Baclohan and Reynaldo Abing arrived. Baclohan and Abing, who acted as witnesses to the raid, both stated in their affidavit that they waited outside while policemen were inside searching the house.
Twisted truths
Again Derilo showed a photograph of the raid showing one of the tanods watching as he searched a portion of the house.
Derilo said all these glaring proofs merely reveal how witnesses and even suspects twist their story to get out of a jam.
Vicente and Laura are not new to drug cases, according to court records.
They were charged on May 29, 2000 with drug possession. RTC Branch 53 handled the case. In that same incident, Laura was charged with drug pushing.
On Sept. 1 the next year, they were again charged with possession. The case was assigned to RTC Branch 54.
On May 6, 2003, Laura was charged with drug possession. Her case was assigned to RTC Branch 27.
Her son Jerome has also had a run-in with the law. He was charged on May 27, 2002 with drug possession. His case was also assigned to RTC Branch 27. (OCP)
(April 3, 2005 issue)
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