The Olongapo City Regional Trial Court has quashed the sedition charges against teacher Ronnel Mas who tweeted a P50 million bounty to anyone who could kill President Rodrigo Duterte after it ruled that the accused was “unlawfully” arrested by operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation.
In a 13-page order dated June 24, 2020, Olongapo City RTC Branch 72 Presiding Judge Richard Paradeza ruled that because of the unlawful arrest of the accused, the court “failed to acquire jurisdiction” over him, warranting the dismissal of the sedition charges in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Action of 2012 filed against him.
“Considering that the accused Mas had timely raised objection to the legality of his arrest before arraignment, and with the findings of this court that accused Mas was indeed unlawfully arrested, this court failed to acquire jurisdiction over his person,” Judge Paradeza ruled.
“With the quashal of the criminal information for violation of Article 142 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to R.A. 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2020), this case is now considered dismissed,” the judge added.
Mas was supposed to be arraigned last May 28 before the Olongapo RTC, but it was deferred after the teacher filed a motion to quash.
The lower court held that NBI operatives failed to comply with Section 5, Rule 113 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure which enumerates the occasions wherein a law enforcer or a private person may lawfully arrest even in the absence of a warrant.
The trial court noted that the subject tweet of Mas was posted on May 5, but his arrest took place only after six days solely on the basis of the sworn statement made by a certain Julius Hallado.
The judge said that the NBI did not exert effort to gather evidence to determine real ownership of the account, but merely rely on the statements of Hallado.
Under Section 5, Rule 113, it is imperative that the arresting officers have personal knowledge of the crime or offense allegedly committed, Judge Paradeza pointed out.
The court noted that at the time Mas was arrested the NBI-Dagupan operatives, had no personal knowledge of the facts and circumstances that the person to be arrested indeed committed a crime.
The court even observed that Hallado was not even sure that the owner of the account @RonPrince which posted the subject tweet was Mas.
“Owing to the appreciable lapse of time between the arrest of the accused and the commission of the crime charged, it is safe to conclude that the arrest of the accused is unlawful,” the judge said.
“It is crystal clear that when the NBI operatives arrested the accused who was not committing any criminal act that time, the operatives already violated the right of the accused against illegal arrest,” it ruled.
The Olongapo City court also rejected the assertion of the prosecution that the invalidity of his warrantless arrest is cured by his subsequent admission to the media that he is the owner of the twitter account.
For extrajudicial confessions to be acceptable, Judge Paradeza stressed that it should conform to constitutional rights of the person under custodial investigation such as the right to remain silent, to have independent and competent counsel of their own choice, to be provided with counsel if they are unable to secure one and to have a counsel present when they decide to waive these rights.
In the case of Mas, the judge observed that even if he indeed made the extra-judicial admission, this was made without the presence of a counsel.
“This admission cannot be used against the accused for he was not assisted by any counsel then,” the judge said.
According to the trial court, the supposed extra judicial confession made by Mas before the media was not made part of the record of the case.
Finally, the trial court said while it found the text posted in the Twitter account “despicable and provocative” which tends to undermine lawful authorities and disturb peace, the person allegedly responsible for such should still be afforded his constitutional rights.
“Even the worst criminals have constitutional rights too,” the court said, reminding authorities to strictly observe the requirements for warrantless arrest.
Following his arrest, Mas was detained at the NBI main headquarters in Manila for a week before the court ordered his release after paying the P72, 000 bail.
The Department of Justice has ruled that the NBI’s warrantless arrest of Mas was “invalid” but said the defect was cured because of an interview he gave to the media wherein he admitted posting the tweet.