Court junks raps vs. NDFP consultant Rafael Baylosis

A Quezon City court has dismissed charges against National Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultant Rafael Baylosis for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

This came after the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 100 granted the demurrer to evidence filed by Baylosis and his co-accused, Roque Guillermo, according to a decision issued Tuesday.

A demurrer to evidence is a pleading filed by the defense that assails the sufficiency of the prosecution’s evidence.

Baylosis, the first NDFP consultant arrested after President Rodrigo Duterte officially tagged communist rebels as terrorists, was ordered released from detention unless he is jailed for another cause. Guillermo’s cash bond of P120,000 was also ordered released.

Police and military personnel arrested Baylosis and Guillermo at Aurora Boulevard corner Katipunan Avenue in February last year and allegedly recovered guns, ammunition and and a hand grenade from the two.

However, Judge Editha Miña-Aguba found that the arrest of Baylosis and his companion was illegal.

“The arrest of accused being illegal, the subsequent search on the persons of accused and the purported confiscated items cannot be used as evidence against them,” the judge wrote.

The confiscation of the items was also considered illegal, as it was “not a product of a search incidental to a lawful arrest, or a stop and frisk search, or the plain view doctrine.”

The judge also held that that testimonies of the arresting officers, who served as prosecution witnesses, were inconsistent. Because of the “unreliable” testimonies, the judge said she cannot presume regularity of performance of duty on the actions of the police officers.

Finally, she ordered that the firearms, ammunition, and explosive allegedly seized from Baylosis and Guillermo forfeited in favor of the government. — RSJ, GMA News