ENAGE CASE DISMISSED!

Regional Trial Court finds Search Warrant faulty

MAASIN CITY – After spending five weeks in a small cell he shared with 14 other detainees at the city jail, Manuel Adobas Enage IV was released last Monday on a legal technicality.

In his Order dated January 18, 2010 RTC Branch 24 Presiding Judge Bethany Kapili dismissed the charges against the young Enage due to the dubious warrant the suspect’s arrest and detention was based on.

Enage, who the Regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (RCIDU) based in Tacloban City had accused of illegal possession of dangerous drugs had spent the Christmas holidays in jail.

The court Order was triggered by a request from Enage’s lawyers to invalidate the search warrant of the Enage residence because it was not based on probable cause and was not specific enough.

Judge Kapili questioned the search warrant’s credibility on the grounds that none of the RCIDU agents who had asked for its issuance had signed the affidavit explaining why the search warrant was needed.

He also found the RCIDU affidavits faulty and contradicting because in one statement it was a certain Francis Enage who was involved in the alleged buy bust operation at a city discoteque while in another it was Manuel Enage IV.

The court also ordered the RCIDU to return Enage’s money, mobile phone and lighter which were taken from him during his arrest. (By Ruevivar “Wowie” Reyes)

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