Guevarra: Problem is not issuance of search warrants but undue force in serving them

Issues involving search warrants stem from their implementation and not necessarily due to their issuance by the courts, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Monday.

Guevarra told reporters that the issuance of search warrants goes through a “very tedious process” at the trial court.

“Ang talagang nagiging problema diyan is not the issuance but in the implementation of the search warrant kasi kung minsan may tendency na gumagamit ng unnecessary force ang mga nag-e-enforce or nagsi-serve ng search warrant kaya nandoon ang problema,” he said at a Palace press briefing.

(The problem lies in the implementation of the search warrant, not the issuance. Sometimes, law enforcers have this tendency to use unnecessary force. It creates a problem as a result.)

Guevarra said that unlawful implementation of a search warrant should be raised before the proper authorities so that administrative and criminal sanctions can be imposed upon persons involved.

The killings of nine activists in Calabarzon on March 7 as a result of simultaneous police operations against suspected communist rebels stemmed from the implementation of search warrants issued by Manila courts.

Following the incident, various groups called on the Supreme Court to review its rule allowing the executive judges of Manila and Quezon City to issue search warrants that can be implemented nationwide.

The Department of Justice-led inter-agency task force is currently investigating the bloody police operations. — BM, GMA News