GR L 22554; (August 1975) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-22554. August 29, 1975.
DELFIN LIM and JIKIL TAHA, plaintiffs-appellants, vs. FRANCISCO PONCE DE LEON AND ORLANDO MADDELA, defendants-appellees.
FACTS
Plaintiff-appellant Jikil Taha sold a motor launch to Alberto Timbangcaya. A year later, Timbangcaya filed a complaint alleging Taha forcibly retook the vessel. Acting Provincial Fiscal Francisco Ponce de Leon, after a preliminary investigation, filed an information for robbery against Taha. Learning the launch was in Balabac, Fiscal Ponce de Leon, via letters, requested the Provincial Commander to direct the local detachment to impound the vessel as it was the corpus delicti of the crime. Defendant-appellee Orlando Maddela, the Detachment Commander, seized the launch from plaintiff-appellant Delfin Lim, who claimed to have purchased it from Taha. All requests for its return were refused.
Plaintiffs-appellants filed a complaint for damages, alleging the seizure was without a warrant and thus violated constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. The trial court dismissed the complaint, upholding the fiscal’s inherent authority to impound evidence, and awarded damages to the defendants-appellees. Plaintiffs appealed.
ISSUE
The primary issue is whether a provincial fiscal has the legal authority to order the seizure of property, alleged to be the corpus delicti of a crime, without a valid search warrant.
RULING
The Supreme Court reversed the trial court. The power to issue search warrants is a judicial function, vested exclusively in judges or justices of the peace under the then-governing 1935 Constitution and Rules of Court. A provincial fiscal, being a prosecuting officer, exercises executive functions and possesses no such judicial authority. The seizure of the motor launch without a warrant, even if claimed to be the corpus delicti, constituted an unlawful violation of the constitutional guarantee. The Court emphasized that the existence of a pending criminal case does not justify a warrantless seizure where there was ample opportunity to obtain a judicial warrant. The fiscal’s letters ordering the seizure were not equivalent to a warrant. Consequently, the seizure was illegal. The Court adjudged Fiscal Ponce de Leon civilly liable for damages to Delfin Lim, the possessor of the property at the time of seizure. The award of damages by the trial court in favor of the defendants-appellees was set aside.