THE police officers involved in the arrest of three lawyers during a raid on a bar in Makati City on Monday, August 20, received an award from the Philippine National Police and support from Malacañang.
Senior Superintendent Rogelio Simon, Makati City Police Office chief, received the “Medalya ng Kagalingan” (medal of excellence) along with his three men from the Drug Enforcement Unit who conducted raids at the Time in Manila bar in Makati City on August 11 and 16.
As this developed, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. justified the act of the Makati cops, saying that it was "ridiculous" for the apprehended lawyers to meddle in the police search of a Makati bar suspected of harboring drug users.
"They should not even have been there. And what business did they have being in the area, being where the search warrant was being served, without even identifying who their client was. That’s ridiculous," Roque said in an interview with Palace reporters.
"You do not acquire a right to be in a police investigation, just because you claim to be representing a client that you don’t want to divulge," he added.
On August 11, the Makati City DEU conducted raided the bar after receiving information that drug transactions were being conducted there.
The police rounded up 123 persons including 57 foreigners and 66 Filipinos during the said raid and recovered 19 ecstasy capsules with a street value of P142,500, 18 sachets of cocaine worth P1.575 million, a sachet of kush marijuana worth P100 and drug paraphernalia.
At least 31 employees of the bar, including bouncers and waiters, were arrested for allegedly conspiring with the owner of the establishment in distributing illegal drugs along with the bar’s owner, who were charged with violating Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
On August 16, Thursday, armed with a search warrant issued by the Makati City Regional Trial Court, the police raided again the said bar which resulted in the seizure of 17 sachets of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride, 3 plastic containers of cocaine and a plastic of kush. The police have yet to release the estimated value of the recovered contraband.
The August 16 raid also resulted in the detention of three lawyers for allegedly interfering with the police operations.
Lawyers Lenie Rocha, Jan Vincent Soliven, and Romulo Alarcon were detained for allegedly preventing police officers from conducting a search at the bar for evidence of drug use. The three were released on August 17.
Police have filed charges of obstruction of justice, resistance and disobedience to authority, violation of a city ordinance against civilians crossing a police line, and constructive possession of illegal drugs against the three lawyers.
The lawyers' detention has drawn flak from lawyers' groups, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and several lawmakers.
The CHR has opened an investigation into the arrest of Rocha, Soliven, and Alarcon.
Roque came to the police's defense, stressing that a lawyer is not privileged to intervene in an ongoing police investigation.
He said that the role of a lawyer was to merely "observe" since the public have "no right to information" to find out what was going on in a police probe.
"As a law professor, I can assure you, in any police investigation, you can only observe, but certainly, you cannot interfere in an ongoing police investigation. Even on freedom of information, that is one of the recognized exceptions," the Palace official said.
"Lawyers have absolutely no involvement in an ongoing police investigation. Their role is when there is already a pending action in the Prosecutor’s Office, if there is anything that was wrong in the police investigation, then they can alleged this either in the determination of probable cause or in the trial itself," he added.
Roque advised the three lawyers to take a "refresher course" on criminal procedure so they would realize that they made a wrong move.
He also asked the police to be "extremely patient" in understanding the lawyers who "still have to learn the ropes."
"Masyado kasing mga bata. So ako naman, I'm appealing to the policemen, please show extreme patience dahil mga bata. They are overzealous too. They still have to learn the ropes. I understand one of them had just passed the bar. So come on, habaan sana ang pasensya. Huwag nang palakihin," he said.
(They are still too young. So for me, I'm appealing to the policemen, please show extreme patience because they are still young. They are overzealous too. They still have to learn the ropes. I understand one of them had just passed the bar. So come on, extend your patience. Don't make it a big deal.) (SunStar Philippines)