CEBU CITY -- The court ordered Saturday the police to release from their custody the pastor they arrested for the alleged murder of his wife.
Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Gabriel Ingles, in a four-page order, found "not proper" the warrantless arrest of Leonardo Jastiva Sr.
"Even if it may be conceded that, based on what the respondent knew, he had probable cause to believe that Jastiva committed parricide, this court fails to see how the lapse of about five to seven days between the commission of the crime and the arrest can satisfy the requisite 'has just been committed'," the ruling read.
The ruling resolves the issue of whether the Homicide Section's arrest of Jastiva last Feb. 19 was legal, but does not bar the filing of formal charges against him under inquest investigation.
Jastiva was taken into custody after he went to the Homicide Section headquarters, located inside Camp Sotero Cabahug, in response to an "invitation" sent by Monilar Friday.
He was charged before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor last Friday, Feb. 20, but action on the complaint was deferred after Jastiva's daughter filed a petition for habeas corpus.
Judge Ingles, in an interview, said he had the order personally served on the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), in which custody he placed Jastiva while his order was being penned.
Full house
The courtroom was packed, with police officers, led by CCPO Chief Patrocinio Comendador and appearing in full dress uniform, and supporters of the Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement pastor alike.
People who wanted to attend the hearing had to pass by an adjoining passageway that linked Judge Ingles' sala to that of his Clerk of Court.
Chief Inspector Arnel Banzon, who attended with Special Weapons and Tactics operatives, said the presence of the uniformed men and women were incidental, adding that a camp inspection was held at the CCPO just hours before.
"When we heard that there was a hearing, we just decided to come over in support of Chief Inspector [Mario] Monilar," he said.
The pastor's supporters, on the other hand, missed worship service just to attend the proceedings that, similar to a petition for the issuance of a writ of amparo, can be held even outside regular working days or hours.
"They are all here to show support and pray," said defense lawyer Agueda Monteclar.
Basis
Monilar, the main subject of the petition, was made to answer questions from the court.
At one point of the proceeding, he stressed that the Homicide Section had basis to arrest Jastiva despite the absence of a warrant.
He said they had "personal knowledge based on physical and circumstantial evidence" and had complied with the requirements set in the Revised Penal Code of when warrantless arrests are justified.
The physical evidence consisted of the mobile phones that, he said, were voluntarily handed over to his investigators by Jastiva himself.
He also cited Jastiva's refusal to give to them the jacket his wife supposedly wore at the time of her abduction.
Jastiva himself identified the cadaver found in Barangay Cantipla, a hilly area within this city, as his missing wife, Judith.
These, said Monilar, complete the elements needed in the filing of the complaint for parricide.
But defense lawyer Fritz Quiñanola, himself a retired police general, said they aren't questioning the validity of the filing of the complaint at this stage of the proceedings.
What they are objecting to, he said, was the manner in which his client was taken into custody -- that he was arrested without warrant.
"Warrantless arrests are allowed after a crime had just been committed, not when the crime has just been discovered," he said.
Unresolved
But certain questions remained hanging despite the hearing that lasted about an hour and a half.
One question left unanswered is when exactly the crime was committed. Comendador, while not participating in the actual deliberations, was among those asked.
Ingles, at the height of the hearing, asked him to clarify. He admitted, in response, that the police are still determining the actual date.
"It is our belief that [the] suspect was committing the crime from February 10 up to Feb. 18," Monilar, for his part, said.
This, however, earned guffaws from defense lawyers.
"Is it your contention that the crime of parricide is a continuing crime?" Judge Ingles asked.
Later, Monilar said the crime was committed either last Feb. 12 or 14, 2009 or five or seven days before the date of the arrest.
Ruling
In his four-page order, issued about three hours after the hearing, Ingles cited the importance of the element of time.
He said warrantless arrests are allowed only if the subject is caught committing the crime, as it happens.
It is likewise allowed when the offense "has just been committed" and the arresting officer has probable cause to believe that, based on circumstances, that the person to be arrested was behind its commission. Ingles cited precedence to help define the phrase "has just been committed."
"Justice Teehankee observed that this connotes immediacy in point of time and excludes cases under the old rule where an offense has in fact been committed no matter how long ago," Ingles said.
"Justice Isagani A. Cruz said that the requirement of immediacy is obvious from the word 'just' which, according to Webster, means 'a very short time ago.' The arrest must be made almost immediately or soon after these acts, not any other time after the suspicion of the arresting officer begins, no matter how long ago the offense was committed," he added.