The Court of Appeals has sustained the validity of the search warrant issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court against the Parajinog family in July 2017.
The search operation led to a gunfight which resulted in the deaths of 16 individuals, including patriarch Ozamiz City mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr.
It likewise led to the arrest and filing of various criminal charges against several Parojinog members.
In a 15-page decision written by Associate Justice Edwin Sorongon, the CA’s Special Eleventh Division dismissed the petition filed by Reynaldo Parajinog Jr. seeking to overturn the orders.
The appellate court denied his motion to quash the search warrant and suppress evidence allegedly illegally obtained by law enforcers during a raid on their residence in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental.
Following the raid, the petitioner was charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, illegal possession of explosives, and possession of illegal drugs.
The QC court junked Parajinog Jr.’s motion to quash, saying Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert, who issued the search warrant, conducted examination of the records and affidavits of witnesses.
“All told, the Court finds no grave abuse of discretion committed. To justify judicial intervention, the abuse of discretion must be so patent and gross as to amount to an evasion of a positive duty or to a virtual refusal to perform a duty enjoined by law or to act at all in contemplation of law, as where the power is exercised in an arbitrary and despotic manner by reason of passion or hostility,” the appellate court said.
In May 2019, Parojinog Jr. was found guilty of possession of illegal drugs during the 2017 simultaneous police operation.