Law, Justice, Arrest

1. The 5 Pillars of
Criminal Justice System
Public Attorney’s Office
PAO-Bucay DO

2. What is Criminal Justice?
• A chain of events, activities, tasks, or functions that constitute the official response
to perceived problems of law and order, which includes the following:
1. Crime prevention and crime reduction
2. The arrest and prosecution of suspects
3. The hearing of criminal cases by the courts
4. Sentencing, administration and enforcement of court orders
5. Parole and other forms of license for prisoners; and
6. Work with the offenders and ex-offenders in prison or in the community

3. What is Criminal Justice System (CJS)?
• The system of courts, including the barangay justice system, the informal
justice system implemented through practice particularly by indigenous
communities, and the quasi-judicial bodies empowered by law to perform
adjudicatory functions;
• The systems for law enforcement and prosecution, which involve
investigating, apprehending and prosecuting those who could not be deterred
from violating the law and the rules of the society;

4. What is Criminal Justice System (CJS)?
• The system of corrections and rehabilitation or the means of rehabilitating
offenders and returning them to the community as law-abiding citizens; and
• The community which collectively imposes limitations on individual behavior
of citizens for the common good of civilized and democratic society that
deters criminality and criminal behavior

5. What is Criminal Justice System (CJS)?
1. The system of the court
2. The system of law enforcement
3. The system of prosecution
4. The system of correction and rehabilitation
5. The community

6. What is the vision of CJS?
• To provide the public an effective system or process in the community by
which crimes are investigated, and the persons suspected thereof are taken in
custody, prosecuted in court and punished if found guilty, with provision
being made for their correction and rehabilitation, and to provide the people
the ability to seek and obtain a remedy through formal or informal
institutions and in conformity with human rights standards.

7. What are the 5 pillars of CJS?
CJS
Law
Enforcement
Prosecution
Courts
Correction
Community
• Each of the 5 pillars plays a vital role
in the administration of justice and,
as such, their interplay and
cooperation is most necessary for the
proper functioning of a CJS.

8. Who constitutes the law enforcement pillar?
1. PNP
2. NBI
3. PDEA
4. AMLC
5. AFP
6. Other related agencies

9. What is the work of the law enforcement pillar?
• Prevention and control of crimes
• Enforcement of laws and effecting arrest of offenders
• Conduct of lawful searches and seizures
• Gather necessary evidence so that a complaint may be filed at the
prosecution’s office

10. The Law Enforcement Pillar
• The forefront of the CJS
• Identified as the first point of contact with the community
• They directly deal with the citizens and are exposed directly to the criminal
elements
• This pillar initiates the CJS machinery upon arresting a person believed to be
a suspect

11. Who constitutes the prosecution pillar?
1. NPS of the DOJ
2. OBM
3. PAO

12. What is the work of the prosecution pillar?
• While the focus of this pillar is the speedy disposition of cases, its principal
task is the investigation of criminal complaints emanating from the
community and the law enforcement agencies, and bringing these complaints
to their successful prosecution in the judicial system
• The prosecution pillar conducts preliminary investigation of cases filed in
the prosecutor’s office and prosecutes cases filed in the court against alleged
offenders after probable cause is established.

13. Who constitutes the courts pillar?
Highest Court
Intermediate Courts
Second Level Courts
First Level Court
Highest Court
Court of Appeals Sandiganbayan Court of Tax Appeals
Reginal Trial Courts Shari’a District Courts
MeTC MTCC MTC MCTC
Shari’a Circuit
Courts

14. What is the work of the courts pillar?
• Adjudicates cases and renders judgment in accordance with the Rule of Law
and without sacrificing the quality of justice.
• Interestingly enough, the overall performance of the CJS may be determined
by the performance of the courts pillar
• Because the litigation process brings all factors – witnesses, evidence and
determination of probable cause – performance of the courts therefore
would serve to synthesize to a large extent the overall performance of the
criminal justice system

15. Who constitutes the corrections pillar?
1. BUCOR
2. BJMP
3. DILG – provincial and sub-provincial jails
4. PNP – District, City and Municipal Jail
5. Board and Pardons and Parole
6. Parole and Probation Administration

16. 2 Classifications of Correction Pillar
Institution-based Correction Community-based Correction
Prisons and jails which house prisoners serving
terms of imprisonment, under detention status, and
those for safekeeping in selected cases
Pertain to probation and parole

17. Probation and Parole Administration (PPA)
• PPA conduct a post-sentence investigation of petitioners for probation as
referred by the courts, as well as pre-parole/pre-executive clemency
investigation for those referred by the Board of Pardons and Parole, to
determine the suitability of the offender to be reintegrated in the community
instead of serving their sentence inside an institution or prison.
• PPA further supervises probations, parolees, and conditional pardonees to
promote their rehabilitation and reintegration to the mainstream society.

18. Who constitutes the community pillar?
1. DSWD
2. CHR
3. NCIP
4. PAO
5. Barangays
6. Civic Organizations
7. NGO

19. What is the work of the community pillar?
• Members of the community pillar are regarded to be both duty holders and
claimholders in the administration of justice
• As duty holders, they have the responsibility to assist law enforcement and the courts in
solving crime
1. by providing information,
2. by community participation in crime prevention and creating a culture of peace, and
3. By supporting the mobilization of resources for peace and order

20. What is the work of the community pillar?
• Members of the community pillar are regarded to be both duty holders and
claimholders in the administration of justice
• As claimholders, they are the beneficiaries of the justice system and they play critical
roles in holding system duty holders accountable
• The community as a subsystem of the whole cyclical process is the most
critical and useful components of the CJS considering its massive and
pervasive composition.

21. Two Main Responsive Roles of Community
Pillar
1. The Crime Prevention
2. Victim Prevention

22. Crime Prevention
• The community pillar collectively imposes limitations on individual behavior
of citizens that deter criminality and criminal behavior for the common good
of civilized and democratic society

23. Victim Prevention
• In relation to the second, it has been recommended that communities must
disseminate more information regarding the roles and functions of the other
components of the CJS, as well as broaden its own, in order to responsively
contribute to victimization prevention

24. Interrelation and Cooperation Between and
Among the Pillars of CJS

26. Nature of the 5 pillars
• Given that the pillars operate in just one system, the efficiency and
effectiveness of one can easily be hampered by the inefficiency and
incompetence of the other, notwithstanding the fact that they function
separately.
• This is because no pillar can operate in isolation for the performance of
each impacts on the other.
• The system is a step-by-step process, where many of the roles are
“independent, interconnecting and overlapping.”

27. • Therefore, in order for the system to operate smoothly, cooperation,
coordination and concerted efforts of the pillars, namely the police, the
prosecutors, the judiciary as well as the correctional services are necessary.

28. Success of the CJS
• Acknowledging that each pillar depends on the other, it cannot be stressed
enough that for the Philippine CJS to be effective, coordination between and
among the different pillars must be strengthened.

29. Warrantless Arrest
PAO-Bucay District Office

30. What is an arrest?
• Arrest is the taking of a person into custody in order that he may be bound
to answer for the commission of an offense. (Section 1, Rule 113 of the
Rules of Court)

31. How is it made?
• An arrest is made by:
1. An actual restrain of a person to be arrested, or
2. By his submission to the custody of the person making the arrest. (Section 2, Rule
113 of the Rules of Court)
• NB: However, jurisprudence instructs that there need not be an actual
restraint for curtailment of liberty to be characterized as arrest

32. • Milado was carrying bricks of marijuana in his backpack aboard a jeepney, on
the way to Bontoc, Mountain Province. Acting upon an information that
there was a person transporting marijuana in the jeepney, the police officers
set up a checkpoint. In the checkpoint, the police identified Milado and told
him to stay inside the jeepney and instructed the driver to drive them to the
police station. Three police officers invited Milado to the police station and
ordered him to open his bag where they discovered the bricks of marijuana.
• Q: Was there an arrest?

33. • Although no “formal arrest” had yet been made, it is clear that the appellant
had already been deprived of his liberty and taken into custody after the
policemen told him to stay inside the jeepney and instructed the driver to
drive them to the police station. The term “invited” may have been used by
the police, but it was obviously a command coming from three law enforcers
who appellant could hardly be expected to defy. [People v. Melado, 462 Phil
411 (2003)]

34. • When the accused is in an environment made hostile by the presence and
actuations of law enforcers where it can be reasonably inferred that they had
no choice except to willingly go with them, then there is an arrest.

35. • Homar was jaywalking when the police accosted him and directed him where
to properly cross the street. However, they noticed that Bomar was uneasy,
so they searched him, and found in his possession a sachet of shabu.
• Q: Is there a valid search incidental to a valid arrest

36. • Neither the application of actual force, manual touching of the body, or
physical restraint, nor a formal declaration of arrest is required. It is enough
that there be an intention on the part of one of the parties to arrest the
other, and that there be an intent on the part of the other to submit, under
the belief and impression that submission is necessary.
• The shabu confiscated from the accused was inadmissible as evidence when
the police officer who flagged him for traffic violation had no intent to arrest
him. Due to the lack of intent to arrest, the subsequent search was unlawful.
[Homar v. People, 768 Phil. 195 (2015)]

37. • Intent to arrest by the arresting person or officer, whether through actual
restrain or other means, must also be clearly established

38. Method of Valid Arrest
1. By virtue of a warrant
2. Warrantless Arrest

39. Constitutional protection against unlawful
arrest
• No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process
of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.
(Section 1, Article III of the Constitution)
• …no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable
cause to be determined personally by the judge… (Section 2, Article III of
the Constitution)

40. What is the purpose of the safeguard against
warrantless arrest?
• The constitutional provision against warrantless arrest is a safeguard against
wanton and unreasonable invasion of the privacy and liberty of a citizen as
to his persons, papers and effects. The right of a person to be secure against
an unreasonable seizure of his body and any deprivation of his liberty is a
most basic and fundamental one.

41. What is the purpose of the safeguard against
warrantless arrest?
• A statute, or rule, or situation which allows exception to the requirement of a
warrant of arrest or search warrant must be strictly construed. We cannot
liberally consider arrests or seizures without warrant or extend their
application beyond the cases specially provided or allowed by law. To do so
would infringe upon personal liberty and set back a basic right so often
violated and yet, so deserving of full protection and vindication. (People v.
Lambijon, et. al. GR No. 89543, November 13, 1992)

42. • As a general rule, no one can be arrested without a valid warrant, which is
likewise true in search and seizure.
• Exception: Valid Warrantless Arrest – Section 5, Rule 113 of the Rules of
Court

43. Section 5, Rule 113 of the Rules of Court
• A peace officer or a private person may, without a warrant, arrest a person:
a) When, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually
committing, or is attempting to commit an offense;
b) When an offense has just been committed, and he has probable cause to believe based
on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has
committed it; and
c) When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal
establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or is temporarily confined
while his case is pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one
confinement to another.

44. Valid Warrantless Arrest
1. In flagrante delicto arrest (Section 5(a), Rule 113 of the Rules of Court)
2. Hot pursuit (Section 5(b), Rule 113 of the Rules of Court)
3. Re-arrest of escaped prisoners (Section 5(c), Rule 113 of the Rules of
Court)

45. In Flagrante Delicto Arrest
• Overt Act Test
1. The person to be arrested must execute an overt act indicating that he/she has just
committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit a crime; and
2. Such overt act is done in the presence or within the view of the arresting officer

46. • The radio operator at the Ocampo Police Station received a telephone call
from a concerned citizen regarding a suspicious person with something
bulging in his body. Said person is a back passenger in a blue 2004 Honda
motorcycle. This report constrained P/Insp Villamer to send a team to verify
the report. In a checkpoint, SPO4 Pequiras saw Marvin as a passenger in a
blue 2004 Honda motorcycle and he perfectly fits the description on the
phone call they received. As a result he arrested Marvin and bodily searched
him that led to the discovery of a firearm.
• Q: was there a valid arrest.

47. • An in flagrante delicto arrest requires the concurrence of two elements:
1. The person arrested must execute an overt act indicating that he or she has just
committed, is actually committing or is attempting to commit a crime; and
2. The overt act was done in the presence or within the view of the arresting officer
• Upon careful review of the records of this case, the Court hold that Marvin
was not validly arrested without a warrant. The prosecution failed to
establish any overt act which would lead to Marvin’s in flagrante delicto
arrest

48. • It was not established that Marvin had a firearm visibly tucked in his waist,
or that he behaved in a manner which would elicit a reasonable suspicion that
he committed an offense
• In this case, petitioner’s arrest could not be justified as in flagrante delicto
arrest under Rule 113, Section 5(a) of the Rules of Court. He was not
committing a crime at the checkpoint. Petitioner was merely a passenger who
did not exhibit any unusual conduct in the presence of the law enforcers that
would incite suspicion. In effecting the warrantless arrest, the police officers
relied solely on the tip they received.

49. • Reliable information alone is insufficient to support a warrantless arrest
absent any overt act from the person arrested indicating that a crime has just
been committed, was being committed, or is about to be committed.
• A hearsay tip by itself does not justify a warrantless arrest. Law enforcers
must have personal knowledge of facts, based on their observation, that the
person sought to be arrested has just committed a crime. (Porteria v. People,
GR No. 233777, March 20, 2019)

50. • Domingo Macad hailed the same bus that PO1 Falolo was riding on the way to
Bontoc, Mountain Province. He then threw his carton baggage to PO1 Falolo who
was then seated on the roof and was toting a Sagada woven bag as well.
Immediately, PO1 Falolo smelled the distinct scent of marijuana emanating from
the carton baggage and notice its irregular shape. He also noticed that the Sagada
woven bag of petitioner was rectangular instead of an oval and, upon touching it,
he noticed that it was hard. At that time PO1 Falolo was not in uniform.
• Q: Is Domingo Macad in flagrante committing the crime of transporting dangerous
drug? Can PO1 Falolo effect an arrest?

51. • At that moment, PO1 Falolo acquired probable cause to conduct a
warrantless arrest on petitioner. There were numerous circumstances and
overt acts which show that PO1 Falolo had probable cause to effect the said
warrantless arrest:
1. The smell of marijuana emanating from the carton baggage
2. The irregular shape of the baggage; and
3. The hardness of the baggage

52. What is probable cause?
• A valid warrantless arrest which justifies a subsequent search is one that is
carried out under the parameters of Section 5(a), Rule 113 of the Rules of
Court, which requires that the apprehending officer must have been spurred
by probable cause to arrest a person caught in flagrante delicto.
• The term probable cause has been understood to mean a reasonable ground
of suspicion supported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to
warrant a cautious man’s belief that the person accused is guilty of the
offense with which he is charged.

53. • With respect to arrest, it is such facts and circumstances which would lead a
reasonably discreet and prudent man to believe that an offense has been
committed by the person sought to be arrested

54. Hot Pursuit
1. There must be a probable cause
2. The crime has been committed
3. The person making the warrantless arrest has personal knowledge of facts
or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it

55. What do we mean by facts or circumstances?
• Circumstances may pertain to events or actions within the actual perception,
personal evaluation or observation of the police officer at the scene of the
crime.
• Thus, even though the police officer has not seen someone actually fleeing,
he could still make a warrantless arrest if, based on his personal evaluation of
the circumstances at the scene of the crime, he could determine the
existence of probable cause that the person sought to be arrested has
committed the crime

56. • While PO2 Torculas was patrolling along the national highway, he noticed two (2)
men aboard a motorcycle with the bike rider holding a lady bag which appeared to
have been taken from a vehicle parked on the side of the road. When PO2 Torculas
shouted at the two men to halt, the latter speed away, At this point, the owner od
the vehicle, Dambase, approached PO2 Tarculas and told him that the petitioner
broke the window of her vehicle and took her belongings. This prompted PO2
Tarculas to request for a back-up while he chased the two men. The chase lead to
the arrest of the two men.
• Q: Was there a valid warrantless arrest.

57. • The sudden flight of the two men upon being flagged by a police officer,
coupled with Dombase’s narration of what had just transpired is enough to
provide PO2 Torculas with personal knowledge of facts indicating that a
crime had just been committed and that the two men are the perpetrator
thereof.

58. • The clincher in the element of “personal knowledge of facts or
circumstances” is the required element of immediacy within which these
facts or circumstances should be gathered. This required time element acts as
a safeguard to ensure that the police officers have gathered the facts or
perceived the circumstances within a very limited time frame. This guarantees
that the police officers would have no time to base their probable cause
finding on facts or circumstances obtained after an exhaustive investigation.

59. • With the element of immediacy imposed under Section 5(b), Rule 113 of the
Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, the police officer’s determination of
probable cause would necessarily be limited to raw or uncontaminated facts
or circumstances, gathered as they were within the very limited period of
time.

60. • Around 9:30 in the evening of March 15, 2007, PO3 Din personally witnessed a robbery incident
while he was waiting for his turn to have a haircut at Jonas Borces Beauty Parlor. After his brief
shootout with the armed robbers, the latter fled using a motorcycle and a red Toyota Corolla.
Through an investigation and verification made by the police officers heraded by Po3 Din and
S/Insp. Ylanan, they were able to: (a) find out that the armed robbers were staying in Barangay
Del Rio Pit-os; and (b) trace the gataway vehicle to Manago. The next day, or on March 16, 2007,
the police officers set up a checkpoint in Sitio Panagdait where, at around 9:30 in the evening, the
red Toyota Corolla being driven by Manago passed by and was intercepted by the police officers.
The police officers then ordered Manago to disembark the car, and from there, proceeded to
search the vehicle and the body of Manago, which search yielded the plastic sachet containing
shabu. Thereupon, they effected Manago’s arrest.
• Q: Was there a valid arrest?

61. • While the element of personal knowledge under Section 5(b) was present-
given that PO3 Din actually saw the March 15, 2007 robbery incident and
even engaged the armed robbers in a shootout – the required element of
immediacy was not met.
• This is because, at the time the police officers effected the warrantless arrest
upon Manago’s person, investigation and verification proceeding were
already conducted, which consequently yielded sufficient information on the
suspect of the March 15, 2007 robbery incident.