SERVICIOS DE MANTENCIÓN DE INFRAESTRUCTURA, EQUIPAMIENTO

Crimes against the fundamental laws of the State 1. Arbitrary detention (Art. 124);

2. Delay in the delivery of detained persons to the proper judicial authorities (Art. 125); 3. Delaying release (Art. 126);

4. Expulsion (Art. 127);

5. Violation of domicile (Art. 128);

6. Search warrants maliciously obtained and abuse in the service of those legally obtained (Art. 129);

7. Searching domicile without witnesses (Art. 130);

8. Prohibition, interruption, and dissolution of peaceful meetings (Art. 131);

9. Interruption of religious worship (Art. 132); and

10. Offending the religious feelings (Art. 133); Crimes under this title are those which violate the Bill of Rights accorded to the citizens under the Constitution. Under this title, the offenders are public officers, except as to the last crime – offending the religious feelings under Article 133, which refers to any person; conspires with a public officer; becomes an accessory or accomplice. The public officers who may be held liable are only those acting under supposed exercise of official functions, albeit illegally.

In its counterpart in Title IX (Crimes Against Personal Liberty and Security), the offenders are private persons.

Arbitrary Detention The term Detention Includes:

a. Lock up – actual deprivation of a person of his liberty by confinement in a room or any enclosure. b. Rendering him physically immobile even if the

victim is not confined such as tying him to a post. c. By placing physical or psychological restraint on

the freedom of locomotion or movement.

Crimes which May Arise if a Person Detains Another

a. Arbitrary Detention (Art 124, RPC) b. Unlawful Arrest (Art 269, RCP) c. Arbitrary Detention (Art 125) d. Coercion (Art 286)

e. Abduction (Art 342)

f. Kidnapping or Illegal Detention (Art 267-268) The crime of arbitrary detention assumes several forms (classes of arbitrary detention)

(1) Detaining a person without legal grounds

(Arbitrary Detention Proper);

(2) Having arrested the offended party for legal grounds but without warrant of arrest, and the public officer does not deliver (or delays in the

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judicial authority within the period of 12, 18, or 36

hours, as the case may be; or

(3) Delaying release by competent authority with the same period mentioned in number 2.

Note: Detention may either be intentional or through negligence.

Article 124. Arbitrary Detention Elements

1. Offender is a public officer or employee (whose official duties include the authority to make an arrest and detain persons);

2. He detains a person;

3. The detention is without legal grounds. Meaning of absence of legal grounds 1. No crime was committed by the detained;

2. There is no violent insanity of the detained person; and

3. The person detained has no ailment which requires compulsory confinement in a hospital.

Persons Liable

Those vested with jurisdiction to order the detention of another who is accused of committing a crime. Otherwise the crime is Illegal Detention. They Include:

a. Local Executive Officials b. Punong Barangay c. Judges

d. Prosecutors

e. Law Enforcement Agents f. Commissioner on Immigration

g. Private Person in conspiracy with the public officials or who participated as accomplices or accessories

Legal Grounds for the Arrest and Detention of A Person

a. Commission of crime b. Violent insanity

c. Ailment which requires compulsory confinement in a hospital

Essence of the Crime

NO warrant of arrest but a public officer arrests and detains a person without legal grounds or the arrest does not fall under the situation of a warrantless arrest.

Valid warrantless arrest

1. Arrest in Flagranti – When in the presence of the arresting officer, the person arrested has committed, is actually committing or attempting to commit an offense.

Time and place of the arrest is the time and place of the commission of the crime EXCEPT in cases of HOT PURSUITS.

“In his presence” – when the officer sees the offense being committed although at a distance, or hear the disturbance created thereby and proceeds at once to the scene thereof, or when the offense is continuing, or has not been consummated at the time the arrest is made, the offense is said to be committed in his presence.

2. Arrest Based on Probable Cause – When an offense has just in fact been committed and he has probable cause to believe, based on personal knowledge of facts and circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it.

Personal Knowledge of facts and circumstances – based on interviews of witnesses or complainant or based on facts gathered after conducting on-the-spot crime scene investigation.

There must be an immediacy between the time of the arrest and the time of the commission of the crime.

3. Arrest of escapees, whether detention prisoner or prisoner by final judgment.

GOOD FAITH ARREST – the legality of the arrest does not depend upon the judicial fact of a crime but upon the nature of the deed performed by the person arrested, when its characterization as a crime may reasonably inferred by the officer.

 Legality of arrest is not affected by the subsequent conviction or acquittal of the accused. The liability of the officer is distinct from the liability of the person arrested.

 Arbitrary Detention under Art 124 may be complexed with less serious or serious physical injuries, or with attempted or frustrated homicide/murder.

 The penalty depends upon the length of the detention. A greater penalty is imposed if the period is longer

 In ADDITION, the arresting officer may be held liable for violation of RA 7438 or the Law Providing for the Rights of Person Arrested, under Investigation or Detained, if the officer:

a. Fails to immediately Mirandize the person (inform the right to remain silent and to counsel)

b. Takes his confession without Mirandizing him or without the right having been validly waived c. Refuses visitation to the person arrested.  Arrest can be made without warrant because

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Periods of Detention Penalized

1. Detention has not exceeded 3 days

2. Detention has continued for more than 3 days but not more than 15 days

3. Detention has continued for more than 15 days but not more than 6 months

4. Detention exceeded 6 months

Distinction between arbitrary detention and illegal detention

1. In arbitrary detention --

The principal offender must be a public officer. Civilians can commit the crime of arbitrary detention (as principal) when they conspire with a public officer committing this crime, or become an accomplice or accessory to the crime committed by the public officer; and

The offender who is a public officer has a duty which carries with it the authority to detain a person.

2. In illegal detention --

The principal offender is a private person. But a public officer can commit the crime of illegal detention when he is acting in a private capacity or beyond the scope of his official duty, or when he becomes an accomplice or accessory to the crime committed by a private person.

The offender, even if he is a public officer, does not include as his function the power to arrest and detain a person, unless he conspires with a public officer committing arbitrary detention.

Distinction between arbitrary detention and unlawful arrest

(1) As to offender

In arbitrary detention, the offender is a public officer possessed with authority to make arrests. In unlawful arrest, the offender may be any person.

(2) As to criminal intent

In arbitrary detention, the main reason for detaining the offended party is to deny him of his liberty.

In unlawful arrest, the purpose is to accuse the offended party of a crime he did not commit, to deliver the person to the proper authority, and to

file the necessary charges in a way trying to incriminate him.

Note: When a person is unlawfully arrested, his subsequent detention is without legal grounds.

Q: A had been collecting tong from drivers. B, a driver, did not want to contribute to the tong. One day, B was apprehended by A, telling him that he was driving carelessly. Reckless driving carries with it a penalty of immediate detention and arrest. B was brought to the Traffic Bureau and was detained there until the evening. When A returned, he opened the cell and told B to go home. Was there a crime of arbitrary detention or unlawful arrest?

A: Arbitrary detention. The arrest of B was only

incidental to the criminal intent of the offender to detain him. But if after putting B inside the cell, he was turned over to the investigating officer who booked him and filed a charge of reckless imprudence against him, then the crime would be unlawful arrest. The detention of the driver is incidental to the supposed crime he did not commit. But if there is no supposed crime at all because the driver was not charged at all, he was not given place under booking sheet or report arrest, then that means that the only purpose of the offender is to stop him from driving his jeepney because he refused to contribute to the tong. Article 125. Delay in the Delivery of Detained

Persons to the Proper Judicial Authorities Elements

1.

Offender is a public officer or employee;

2.

He detains a person for some legal ground;

3.

He fails to deliver such person to the proper

judicial authorities within – a. 12 hour for light penalties;

b. 18 hours for correctional penalties; and c. 36 hours for afflictive or capital penalties.  At the beginning, the detention is legal since it is in

the pursuance of a lawful arrest.

 This article does not apply if the arrest is with a warrant. The situation contemplated here is an arrest by virtue of some legal ground or valid warrantless arrest. This is known as citizen‘s arrest.

If there is valid warrant of arrest, there is no time limit specified except that the return must be made within a reasonable time. The period fixed by law under Article 125 does not apply because the arrest was made by virtue of a warrant of arrest, he can be detained indefinitely until case is decided or he post a bail for his temporary release.

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 However, the detention becomes arbitrary when

the period thereof exceeds 12, 18 or 36 hours, as the case may be, depending on whether the crime is punished by light, correctional or afflictive penalty or their equivalent.

 The public officer must cause a formal charge or application to be filed with the proper court before 12, 18 or 36 hours lapse. Otherwise he has to release the person arrested.

RATIONALE: To prevent any abuse resulting from confining a person without informing him of his offense and without permitting him to go on bail.

DELIVERY TO PROPER AUTHORITIES - filing the appropriate charges with the proper judicial authorities. PROPER JUDICIAL AUTHORITIES – refers to the court of justice or judges of said courts vested with judicial power to order the temporary detention or confinement of a person charged with having committed a public offense. It also includes prosecutor‘s office

Where to File Charges

a. In Chartered Cities – Office of the City Prosecutor. Direct filing in court is not allowed.

b. In Provinces

1. Offense requires preliminary investigation (penalty is more than 4 years and 2 months) – file with the proper officer authorized to conduct preliminary investigation (Provincial Prosecutor)

2. Offense does not require preliminary investigation – file with the MTC/MTTC. How to Count the Hours

According to Sir Sagsago, the hours should be counted from the time of arrest continuously and without interruption, including the hours of the night or non- office days. However, if the last hour ends on a non- office hour, the charges shall be files upon the start of the next office hour.

According to Ortega, the period stated herein does not include the nighttime. It is to be counted only when the prosecutor‘s office is ready to receive the complaint or information.

Under the Rule 114 of the Revised Rules of Court, the arrested person can demand from the arresting officer to bring him to any judge in the place where he was arrested and post the bail here. Thereupon, the arresting officer may release him. The judge who granted the bail will just forward the litimus of the case to the court trying his case. The purpose is in order to deprive the arrested person of his right to post the bail.

Under the Revised Rules of Court, when the person arrested is arrested for a crime which gives him the right to preliminary investigation and he wants to

avail his right to a preliminary investigation, he would have to waive in writing his rights under Article 125 so that the arresting officer will not

immediately file the case with the court that will exercise jurisdiction over the case. If he does not want to waive this in writing, the arresting officer will have to comply with Article 125 and file the case immediately in court without preliminary investigation. In such case, the arrested person, within five days after learning that the case has been filed in court without preliminary investigation, may ask for preliminary investigation. In this case, the public officer who made the arrest will no longer be liable for violation of Article 125.

Circumstances Considered in Determining Liability of Officer Detaining a Person Beyond the Legal Period

1. The means of communication 2. The hour of arrest

3. Other circumstances such as the time of surrender and the material possibility of the prosecutor to make the investigation and file in time the necessary information.

 The officer may set up insuperable cause as a defense such as failure to file on time due to distance and lack of transportation to the nearest court/prosecutor‘s office; fortuitous event; or that the officer was wounded and have himself be medically attended to.

 The filing of the information in court beyond the specified periods does not cure the illegality of detention because the violation had already been committed.

 Violation of Art 125 does not affect the legality of confinement under a warrant subsequently issued by a competent court.

 To prevent committing this felony, officers usually ask accused to execute a waiver of Art. 125 which should be under oath and with assistance of counsel. Such waiver is not violative of the constitutional right of the accused

LENGTH OF WAIVER

In document BASES DE LICITACIÓN PROGRAMA DE CONCESIONES DE INFRAESTRUCTURA HOSPITALARIA HOSPITAL DE MAIPÚ HOSPITAL DE LA FLORIDA (página 82-87)