KIKO PANGILINAN FILES RESOLUTION EXPRESSING SENATE'S
SENSE OF QCPD ABUSE OF AUTHORITY

Independent senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan filed Resolution 1003, expressing the sense of the Senate that the Quezon City police gravely abused their authority in enforcing warrantless arrests of relatives and helpers of Ted Failon.

"We laud and welcome the PNP's suspension of police officials involved in the case. But it must be made known what the law enforcers did wrong so that they may be guided accordingly," said Pangilinan.

The Resolution states that under Rule 113, Section 5 of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure the instances when warrantless arrests by a peace officer or a private person are allowed are when in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing or is attempting to commit an offense, when an offense has in fact just been committed and he has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it, and when the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or is temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another. None of the above can be considered as basis for the warrantless arrests of relatives and helpers of Failon, according to Pangilinan.

The resolution was signed by Senators Francis Pangilinan, Nene Pimentel, Pia Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Chiz Escudero, Alan Cayetano, Jamby Madrigal, Mar Roxas and Noynoy Aquino.