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Warrantless Search Ruling in People v. Correa

The police conducted surveillance on Leonardo Dulay for drug trafficking and received a tip that he would be transporting drugs that night in a jeepney. Police stopped the jeepney carrying Dulay, Antonio Correa, and Rito Gunida and found 8 bundles of marijuana weighing over 16 kilograms hidden in a tin can. The defendants claimed they were arrested elsewhere and brought to the police station. The court found the defendants guilty, sentencing them to death and a fine. On appeal, the court held that the defendants waived their right to object to the warrantless search and seizure by voluntarily submitting to it during the search and not protesting, and by entering a not guilty plea and participating in their trial.

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364 views1 page

Warrantless Search Ruling in People v. Correa

The police conducted surveillance on Leonardo Dulay for drug trafficking and received a tip that he would be transporting drugs that night in a jeepney. Police stopped the jeepney carrying Dulay, Antonio Correa, and Rito Gunida and found 8 bundles of marijuana weighing over 16 kilograms hidden in a tin can. The defendants claimed they were arrested elsewhere and brought to the police station. The court found the defendants guilty, sentencing them to death and a fine. On appeal, the court held that the defendants waived their right to object to the warrantless search and seizure by voluntarily submitting to it during the search and not protesting, and by entering a not guilty plea and participating in their trial.

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Philip Suplico
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PEOPLE v CORREA

285 SCRA 679; 1998

FACTS: A week before 18 June 1994, Leonardo Dulay was placed under surveillance by the Police Operatives from the
Drug Enforcement Unit of the Western Police District Command (DEU-WPDC) on account of confidential and intelligence
reports received in said Unit about his drug trafficking around Bambang Street, Tondo, Manila. The police surveillance
brought forth positive results and confirmed Dulay's illegal drug trade.

On 17 June 1994, operatives were alerted that Dulay would transport and deliver a certain quantity of drugs that night
on board a owner-type jeep (FMR948). Thereafter, the operatives, together with the informer proceeded to A. Bonifacio
Street on board 3 vehicles, and inconspicuously parked along the side of North Cemetery and waited for the suspect.

The police informant spotted Dulay’s vehicle at 3:00 am. The operatives tailed the subject jeepney until they reached
Bambang extension and Jose Abad Santos Avenue, where they accosted the passengers of said jeepney. The team
inspected a cylindrical tin can of El Cielo Vegetable Cooking Lard, about two feet high, loaded in the vehicle of the
appellants. The can contained 8 bundles of suspected dried marijuana flowering tops wrapped in pieces of paper and
plastic tapes. The team seized the suspected contrabands and marked each bundle consecutively. The 3 suspects were
brought to the police headquarters at DEU-WPDC for investigation. The packages of suspected marijuana were
submitted to the NBI for laboratory analysis to determine their chemical composition. The tests confirmed that the
confiscated stuff were positive for marijuana and weighed 16.1789 kilograms.

The defense, however, contends that the 3 accused were arrested without warrant in Camarin D, Caloocan City, enroute
to Dulay’s house to get the things of his child allegedly rushed previously to the Metropolitan Hospital, for an alleged
charge of trafficking on 'shabu,' and were brought to the WPDC headquarters at U.N. Avenue, where they were
detained. On 12 July 1994, an Information was filed with the RTC Manila (Branch 35) indicting Antonio Correa y Cayton,
Rito Gunida y Sesante, and Leonardo Dulay y Santos for having violated Section 4, Article II of RA 6425, as amended.
When arraigned, the 3 accused pleaded not guilty. After trial and on 3 March 1995, the lower court found the appellants
guilty as charged and were sentenced to death and a fine of P10 million.

ISSUES: Whether or not the accused are precluded from assailing the warrantless search and seizure, due to waiver on
their part?

HELD: YES. Antonio Correa y Cayton, Rito Gunida y Sesante, and Leonardo Dulay y Santos are precluded from assailing
the warrantless search and seizure when they voluntarily submitted to it as shown by their actuation during the search
and seizure.

They never protested when the police officer opened the tin can loaded in their vehicle, nor when he opened one of the
bundles, nor when they, together with their cargo of drugs and their vehicle, were brought to the police station for
investigation and subsequent prosecution. When one voluntarily submits to a search or consents to have it made on his
person or premises, he is precluded from later complaining thereof The right to be secure from unreasonable search
may, like every right, be waived and such waiver may be made either expressly or impliedly.

Further, they effectively waived their constitutional right against the search and seizure by their voluntary submission to
the jurisdiction of the trial court, when they entered a plea of not guilty upon arraignment and by participating in the
trial.

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