A QUEZON City court has quashed the search warrant and dismissed the illegal firearms case filed by the police against unionist Dennise Velasco, one of the “Human Rights Day 7” arrested by the police on Dec. 10, 2020.
Velasco, a trade union organizer for Defend Jobs Philippines, argued that the search warrant was issued by the Office of the Executive Judge of the Quezon City RTC “without complying with constitutional and legal requirements and procedures for having been irregularly implemented.”
With this, Velasco said the evidence obtained during the implementation of the search warrant being the proverbial “fruit of the poisonous tree” must be declared inadmissible in court.
Quezon City RTC Branch 220 Presiding Judge Jose Paneda, in a March 2 ruling, sided with Velasco and held that since the search warrant was void from the beginning, the items allegedly seized from his house cannot be used as evidence against him.
“It is as if they entered accused’s house without a warrant, making their entry therein illegal and the items seized inadmissible,” Paneda said.
The court also directed the jail warden of the Metro Manila District Jail at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City to release Velasco from custody “unless he is being held for some other lawful causes.”
Velasco was among the seven individuals arrested on Human Rights Day two years ago. A trade union organizer for Defend Jobs Philippines, Velasco was apprehended after members of the Quezon City Police District found a bag of ammunition and explosives inside his house during the implementation of a search warrant.
Aside from Velasco, five other union organizers were arrested as well as journalist Lady Ann Salem.
The case against Salem and unionist Rodrigo Esparado has been dismissed by the court.
