Di

osdadoJoseAl
ladovDi
okno
G.
R.113630May5,1994

FACTS:

Peti
ti
oners,Di osdado Jose Al lado and Rober to L.Mendoza,wer e bothimpli
cated as the
mastermindsoft hekidnappi
ngandmur derofEugenAl exanderVanTwi st
.Aninf
ormationforthe
sai
dcr i
mewasf i
ledagainstthepet i
ti
onerspr i
maril
yont hest r
engthofaswor nstatementby
Escol
asti
coUmbal ,whoadmi t
tedt hathewasamongt hosewhoki dnappedandkil
ledthev i
cti
m
upontheor dersoft hepeti
ti
oner s.Thereafter
,respondentjudge,Robert
oC.Diokno,order
edt he
arr
estofthepet iti
onersandnobai lwasr ecommended.
Peti
ti
oners,cont endingthattheirarrest
swasef f
ectedwhimsi cal
l
yast her
eisnoprobablecause,
questi
onedt heirarrests.

I
SSUE:

Whet
herornotpr
obabl
ecausei
spr
esentt
owar
rantt
heor
derofar
restagai
nstt
hepet
it
ioner
s.

HELD:

No,
probabl
ecausedoesnotexi
stt
omer
itt
heor
derofar
restagai
nstt
hepet
it
ioner
s.

 
Forsur e,thecr edibil
i
tyofUmbali sbadl ybat tered.Certainly,hisbar eal legations,ev eni ft he
Stateinv okesit
si nherentr ighttoprosecut e, arei nsuff
ici
entt oj usti
fysendi ngt wol awy erst ojail,
orany bodyf orthatmat t
er.Mor eimpor tant l
y,thePACCoper ativeswhoappl iedf orawar rantt o
searcht hedwel l
ingsofSant i
agonev erimpl i
catedpet i
ti
oners.Inf actt heyclaimedt hataccor di ng
toUmbal ,itwasSant iago,andnotpet i
tioner s,whomast ermindedt hewhol eaf fair.
 Whil
et her e
maybebi tsofev i
denceagai nstpeti
tioner s'co- accused,i.e.,referri
ngt ot hosesei zedf r
om t he
dwelli
ngsofSant i
ago, thesedonoti nt hel eastpr ovepetiti
oner s'compl ici
tyint hecr imechar ged.
Basedont heev idencet husf arsubmi ttedt her ei snothingi ndeed,muchl essi st herepr obabl e
cause, toincri
minat epet it
ioners.Forthem t ost andt r
ialandbedepr i
v edint hemeant imeoft heir
l
iberty
, howev erbr i
ef,t
hel awappr opriatelyexact smuchmor et osust ainawar rantfort hei
rar rest
—f actsandci rcumst ancesst rongenoughi nt hemsel vest osuppor tthebel i
eft hatt heyaregui lt
y
ofacr i
met hatinf acthappened.Qui teobv i
ousl y, t
hishasnotbeenmet .

Perhaps,t hiscasewoul dnothav ereachedthi

sCourti
fpetit
ioner
swer eordinarypeopl e
submi ssiv
et othedictat
esofgov er
nment.Theywouldhavebeeni ll
egallyar r
estedand
detainedwi t
houtbail.Thenwewoul dnothav etheopport
unitytor ecti
fythei njusti
ce.
Fortunately,t
hev i
cti
msofi nj
usti
cearelawyerswhoarevi
gil
antofthei
rr i
ghts,whof i
ghtf or
thei
rl i
bert
yandf reedom notot
herwiseavail
abl
etot
hosewhocoweri nfearandsubj ection.

Lett histhenbeaconst antr emindert ojudges,prosecutorsandot hergov ernmentagent s

taskedwi ththeenforcementoft helawt hatintheperformanceoft heirduti
est heymustact
withci r
cumspection,lesttheirthought l
essway s,methodsandpr acticescauseadi sser
vice
tot heiroffi
ceandmai mt heircount r
yment heyar eswor ntoser veandpr otect.Wethus
caut i
on governmentagent s,par t
icularl
yt he l
aw enf or
cers,to be mor e pr udentint he
prosecutionofcasesandnott obeobl iv
iousofhumanr i
ghtsprotectedbyt hef undament al
l
aw.Whi lewegreatlyapplaudt heirdeterminedef f
ort
st oweedsoci et
yoff elons,letnott
hei r
i
mpet uouseagernessv iol
at econstituti
onalpreceptswhichcircumscr ibethest ruct
ureofa
civi
lizedcommuni ty.