Warrantless arrest on Jade Castro ‘baseless’ — FLAG chair

MANILA, Philippines — Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) chairperson, lawyer Chel Diokno, said that the warrantless arrest of film director Jade Castro and four others is unfounded.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Diokno said that the requisites for performing a warrantless arrest against Castro and the other accused are not met. 

“Sa aking pagsusuri, walang sapat na dahilan na hulihin sina Jade. They were not caught in the act of committing a crime; there was no legitimate hot pursuit operation; and they did not escape from custody,” Diokno, who is also a law professor, said in a post on X.

(In my analysis, there is insufficient reason to apprehend Jade. They were not caught in the act of committing a crime; there was no legitimate hot pursuit operation; and they did not escape from custody.)

According to a report by ANC, the FLAG chief is also one of Castro’s lawyers.

In an interview with Teleradyo, Diokno also said that Castro and the others were not criminals, but were victims of unlawful warrantless arrests and “defects in the inquest process.”

“'Yung mga sinasabing ebidensya laban sa kanila ay nakakapagtaka rin kung sapat ba ‘yan kung sila’y makulong,” Diokno said in a Teleradyo interview. 

(The so-called evidence against them also raises the question of whether it is sufficient for their imprisonment.)

According to the Rules of Court, authorities can arrest an individual without a court-issued arrest warrant if:

Castro and his friends were arrested on February 1 after being pointed as the alleged suspects who set ablaze a modern jeepney in Catanauan, Quezon Province on January 31. 

The film director and his friends denied the accusations, saying that they were on a vacation in the town of Mulanay.

Among the arrested are civil engineers Noel Mariano and Dominic Ramos, and sales manager Ernesto Orcine.

On Tuesday, a report from ABS-CBN showed CCTV footage that the film director and his friends were in the town of Mulanay when the burning incident happened. 

The Calabarzon police, however, insisted on the legality of its arrests on Castro and his friends. 

“They are entitled sa alibi nila, we have witnesses na nagsasabi na sila ‘yun, positively