RULE 126

Search and Seizure

Section 1. Search warrant defined. A search warrant is an order in writing
issued in the name of the People of the Philippines, signed by a judge and
directed to a peace officer, commanding him to search for personal property
described therein and bring it before the court. (1)
Section 2. Court where application for search warrant shall be filed. An
application for search warrant shall be filed with the following:
a) Any court within whose territorial jurisdiction a crime was
committed.
b) For compelling reasons stated in the application, any court within
the judicial region where the crime was committed if the place of
the commission of the crime is known, or any court within the
judicial region where the warrant shall be enforced.
However, if the criminal action has already been filed, the application shall
only be made in the court where the criminal action is pending. (n)
Section 3. Personal property to be seized. A search warrant may be
issued for the search and seizure of personal property:
(a) Subject of the offense;
(b) Stolen or embezzled and other proceeds, or fruits of the
offense; or
(c) Used or intended to be used as the means of committing an
offense. (2a)
Section 4. Requisites for issuing search warrant. A search warrant shall
not issue except upon probable cause in connection with one specific
offense to be determined personally by the judge after examination under

oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce,

and particularly describing the place to be searched and the things to be
seized which may be anywhere in the Philippines. (3a)
Section 5. Examination of complainant; record. The judge must, before
issuing the warrant, personally examine in the form of searching questions
and answers, in writing and under oath, the complainant and the witnesses
he may produce on facts personally known to them and attach to the record
their sworn statements, together with the affidavits submitted. (4a)
Section 6. Issuance and form of search warrant. If the judge is satisfied
of the existence of facts upon which the application is based or that there is
probable cause to believe that they exist, he shall issue the warrant, which
must be substantially in the form prescribed by these Rules. (5a)
Section 7. Right to break door or window to effect search. The officer, if
refused admittance to the place of directed search after giving notice of his
purpose and authority, may break open any outer or inner door or window of
a house or any part of a house or anything therein to execute the warrant or
liberate himself or any person lawfully aiding him when unlawfully detained
therein. (6)
Section 8. Search of house, room, or premise to be made in presence of
two witnesses. No search of a house, room, or any other premise shall be
made except in the presence of the lawful occupant thereof or any member
of his family or in the absence of the latter, two witnesses of sufficient age
and discretion residing in the same locality. (7a)
Section 9. Time of making search. The warrant must direct that it be
served in the day time, unless the affidavit asserts that the property is on the
person or in the place ordered to be searched, in which case a direction may
be inserted that it be served at any time of the day or night. (8)
Section 10. Validity of search warrant. A search warrant shall be valid for
ten (10) days from its date. Thereafter it shall be void. (9a)
Section 11. Receipt for the property seized. The officer seizing property
under the warrant must give a detailed receipt for the same to the lawful

occupant of the premises in whose presence the search and seizure were
made, or in the absence of such occupant, must, in the presence of at least
two witnesses of sufficient age and discretion residing in the same locality,
leave a receipt in the place in which he found the seized property. (10a)
Section 12. Delivery of property and inventory thereof to court; return and
proceedings thereon. (a) The officer must forthwith deliver the property
seized to the judge who issued the warrant, together with a true inventory
thereof duly verified under oath.

Section 14. Motion to quash a search warrant or to suppress

evidence; where to file. A motion to quash a search warrant and/or to
suppress evidence obtained thereby may be filed in and acted upon only by
the court where the action has been instituted. If no criminal action has been
instituted, the motion may be filed in and resolved by the court that issued
the search warrant. However, if such court failed to resolve the motion and a
criminal case is subsequent filed in another court, the motion shall be
resolved by the latter court. (n)
ARTICLE III

(b) Ten (10) days after issuance of the search warrant, the issuing
judge shall ascertain if the return has been made, and if none, shall
summon the person to whom the warrant was issued and require
him to explain why no return was made. If the return has been
made, the judge shall ascertain whether section 11 of this Rule has
been complained with and shall require that the property seized be
delivered to him. The judge shall see to it that subsection (a) hereof
has been complied with.
(c) The return on the search warrant shall be filed and kept by the
custodian of the log book on search warrants who shall enter
therein the date of the return, the result, and other actions of the
judge.
A violation of this section shall constitute contempt of court.(11a)
Section 13. Search incident to lawful arrest. A person lawfully arrested
may be searched for dangerous weapons or anything which may have been
used or constitute proof in the commission of an offense without a search
warrant. (12a)

BILL OF RIGHTS
Section 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of
whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search
warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be
determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or
affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and
particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to
be seized.
Section 3. (1) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be
inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety or
order requires otherwise, as prescribed by law.
(2) Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding section shall
be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.
REPUBLIC ACT No. 4200
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT AND PENALIZE WIRE TAPPING AND OTHER
RELATED VIOLATIONS OF THE PRIVACY OF COMMUNICATION, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, not being authorized by all the
parties to any private communication or spoken word, to tap any wire or
cable, or by using any other device or arrangement, to secretly overhear,

intercept, or record such communication or spoken word by using a device

commonly known as a dictaphone or dictagraph or dictaphone or walkietalkie or tape recorder, or however otherwise described:
It shall also be unlawful for any person, be he a participant or not in the act
or acts penalized in the next preceding sentence, to knowingly possess any
tape record, wire record, disc record, or any other such record, or copies
thereof, of any communication or spoken word secured either before or after
the effective date of this Act in the manner prohibited by this law; or to replay
the same for any other person or persons; or to communicate the contents
thereof, either verbally or in writing, or to furnish transcriptions thereof,
whether complete or partial, to any other person: Provided, That the use of
such record or any copies thereof as evidence in any civil, criminal
investigation or trial of offenses mentioned in section 3 hereof, shall not be
covered by this prohibition.
Section 2. Any person who willfully or knowingly does or who shall aid,
permit, or cause to be done any of the acts declared to be unlawful in the
preceding section or who violates the provisions of the following section or of
any order issued thereunder, or aids, permits, or causes such violation shall,
upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment for not less than six
months or more than six years and with the accessory penalty of perpetual
absolute disqualification from public office if the offender be a public official
at the time of the commission of the offense, and, if the offender is an alien
he shall be subject to deportation proceedings.
Section 3. Nothing contained in this Act, however, shall render it unlawful or
punishable for any peace officer, who is authorized by a written order of the
Court, to execute any of the acts declared to be unlawful in the two
preceding sections in cases involving the crimes of treason, espionage,
provoking war and disloyalty in case of war, piracy, mutiny in the high seas,
rebellion, conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion, inciting to rebellion,
sedition, conspiracy to commit sedition, inciting to sedition, kidnapping as
defined by the Revised Penal Code, and violations of Commonwealth Act
No. 616, punishing espionage and other offenses against national
security:Provided, That such written order shall only be issued or granted
upon written application and the examination under oath or affirmation of the
applicant and the witnesses he may produce and a showing: (1) that there

are reasonable grounds to believe that any of the crimes enumerated

hereinabove has been committed or is being committed or is about to be
committed: Provided, however, That in cases involving the offenses of
rebellion, conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion, inciting to rebellion,
sedition, conspiracy to commit sedition, and inciting to sedition, such
authority shall be granted only upon prior proof that a rebellion or acts of
sedition, as the case may be, have actually been or are being committed; (2)
that there are reasonable grounds to believe that evidence will be obtained
essential to the conviction of any person for, or to the solution of, or to the
prevention of, any of such crimes; and (3) that there are no other means
readily available for obtaining such evidence.
The order granted or issued shall specify: (1) the identity of the person or
persons whose communications, conversations, discussions, or spoken
words are to be overheard, intercepted, or recorded and, in the case of
telegraphic or telephonic communications, the telegraph line or the
telephone number involved and its location; (2) the identity of the peace
officer authorized to overhear, intercept, or record the communications,
conversations, discussions, or spoken words; (3) the offense or offenses
committed or sought to be prevented; and (4) the period of the authorization.
The authorization shall be effective for the period specified in the order
which shall not exceed sixty (60) days from the date of issuance of the order,
unless extended or renewed by the court upon being satisfied that such
extension or renewal is in the public interest.
All recordings made under court authorization shall, within forty-eight hours
after the expiration of the period fixed in the order, be deposited with the
court in a sealed envelope or sealed package, and shall be accompanied by
an affidavit of the peace officer granted such authority stating the number of
recordings made, the dates and times covered by each recording, the
number of tapes, discs, or records included in the deposit, and certifying that
no duplicates or copies of the whole or any part thereof have been made, or
if made, that all such duplicates or copies are included in the envelope or
package deposited with the court. The envelope or package so deposited
shall not be opened, or the recordings replayed, or used in evidence, or their
contents revealed, except upon order of the court, which shall not be granted
except upon motion, with due notice and opportunity to be heard to the
person or persons whose conversation or communications have been
recorded.

The court referred to in this section shall be understood to mean the Court of
First Instance within whose territorial jurisdiction the acts for which authority
is applied for are to be executed.

Section 5. All laws inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby
repealed or accordingly amended.
Section 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Section 4. Any communication or spoken word, or the existence, contents,

substance, purport, effect, or meaning of the same or any part thereof, or
any information therein contained obtained or secured by any person in
violation of the preceding sections of this Act shall not be admissible in
evidence in any judicial, quasi-judicial, legislative or administrative hearing or
investigation.

Approved: June 19, 1965