Quezon City Has Passed an Ordinance on a Citizen's Arrest: Is It Legal?



Just very recently, the Quezon City council has passed an ordinance permitting a private individual to effect an arrest on a person, even without the necessary warrant of arrest issued by the court.  The act of QC council may sound a new mechanism to most of the people, especially in the residents of the place.  However, this act is not entirely foreign in our criminal justice system.  As a matter of fact, this CITIZEN'S ARREST, was well espoused in the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure.



Section 5 of Article 113 of the above-mentioned criminal procedure provides when it is lawful to arrest without warrant.  Thus:

"A peace officer or a private person may, without a warrant, arrest a person:

1.  When, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense;

2.  When an offense has just been committed and he has probable cause to believe based on his personal knowledge of facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it; and

3.  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."

Take note that a private person may arrest, without the warrant, a person if it falls either of the three circumstances mentioned in the law.  The law does not provide any instance wherein a Warrantless arrest may be effected.



To summarize, a private person may only effect a warrantless arrest if the person to be arrested is 'caught in the act of doing or attempting to commit a crime' or 'in flagrante delicto'; on the occasion of a 'hot pursuit'; or the person is an escapee from a penal institution.

Again, with or without the ordinance passed by the QC Council, any private person is authorized to arrest a person even without a warrant in the instances mentioned and provided by law.

Note:  The photos used herein are not owned by the blogger.  They are taken from Google.

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