GR L 1545; (April, 1949) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-1545; April 19, 1949
E. R. CRUZ, petitioner, vs. RAFAEL DINGLASAN, ET AL., respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner Erasmo R. Cruz filed a petition for mandamus to compel the respondents, officials of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), to return a jeep seized under a search warrant issued by respondent judges. Cruz claimed ownership, having purchased the jeep from the Government Procurement Commission. The NBI asserted the jeep was stolen from its agent in 1946. The jeep was initially seized under a search warrant issued by Judge Sotero Rodas in Criminal Case No. 1267, but was returned to Cruz after the judge doubted the identification. Subsequently, the NBI obtained another search warrant from Judge Rafael Dinglasan in Criminal Case No. 1288, based on stronger evidence, and seized the jeep again. Cruz moved for its return, but Judges Ramon San Jose and Conrado V. Sanchez denied the motions, holding the jeep was part of the corpus delicti in a theft case pending against Cruz and others.
ISSUE
Whether the search warrant issued by Judge Dinglasan is valid and whether the jeep should be returned to Cruz.
RULING
The Supreme Court denied the petition. The validity of the search warrant was upheld, as Judge Dinglasan issued it after examining witnesses under oath and determining probable cause that the jeep was stolen property, consistent with procedural rules. The Court declined to resolve the factual dispute over ownership, stating it was a matter for the trial court in the pending theft case. Orders on search warrants are interlocutory and do not constitute res judicata; thus, Judge Rodas’s prior order to return the jeep did not bind subsequent judges in a different case. The petition lacked merit, especially given the indication that Cruz was under investigation for the jeep’s theft.
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