In the Philippines, the Executive Judges of the Regional Trial Courts (RTC) of Manila and Quezon City are authorized to act on applications filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Anti-Crime Task Force (ACTAF), for search warrants involving heinous crimes, illegal gambling, illegal possession of firearms and ammunitions as well as violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the Intellectual Property Code, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, the Tariff and Customs Code, as amended, and other relevant laws that may be enacted by Congress and included in the above list by the Supreme Court. The warrants may be enforced in any part of the country.
Last month, in “RE: REQUEST OF POLICE DIRECTOR GENERAL AVELINO I. RAZON FOR AUTHORITY TO DELEGATE THE ENDORSEMENT OF APPLICATION FOR SEARCH WARRANT, En Banc, A.M. No. 08-4-4-SC, July 7, 2009”, the Philippine Supreme Court, acting on the request of the Director General of the Philippine National Police (PNP), granted the request of the PNP to delegate to the Director of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) of the PNP the authority to endorse applications for search warrants to be filed before the Regional Trial Courts (RTC) of Manila and Quezon City, thus amending Sec. 12, Chapter V of A.M. No. 03-8-02-SC, En Banc, January 27, 2004, to read as follows:
SEC. 12. Issuance of search warrants in special criminal cases by the Regional Trial Courts of Manila and Quezon City. – The Executive Judges and, whenever they are on official leave of absence or are not physically present in the station, the Vice-Executive Judges of the RTCs of Manila and Quezon City shall have authority to act on applications filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Anti-Crime Task Force (ACTAF), for search warrants involving heinous crimes, illegal gambling, illegal possession of firearms and ammunitions as well as violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the Intellectual Property Code, the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, the Tariff and Customs Code, as amended, and other relevant laws that may hereafter be enacted by Congress, and included herein by the Supreme Court.
The applications shall be endorsed by the heads of such agencies or their respective duly authorized officials and shall particularly describe therein the places to be searched and/or the property or things to be seized as prescribed in the Rules of Court. The Executive Judges and Vice-Executive Judges concerned shall issue the warrants, if justified, which may be served outside the territorial jurisdiction of the said courts.
The Executive Judges and the authorized Judges shall keep a special docket book listing names of Judges to whom the applications are assigned, the details of the applications and the results of the searches and seizures made pursuant to the warrants issued.
This Section shall be an exception to Section 2 of Rule 126 of the Rules of Court. (Emphasis supplied.)
The Court acknowledges that, to be efficient in the campaign to fight crime, the PNP Chief must not be tied to his desk. Recent developments and trends in criminality require the PNP Chief to be mobile, so that he will be effective in the performance of several functions and responsibilities attendant to his position. That being the case, there will be instances when documents demanding the PNP Chief’s immediate attention and signature will not be acted upon right away. One such document may be an application for a search warrant, the immediate endorsement of which is a must in order for the PNP to be effective and responsive in the conduct of its criminal investigation.
