Valid warrantless search and seizure

"x x x.

We now go to the firearms and ammunitions seized from petitioner without a search warrant, the admissibility in evidence of which, we uphold.

The five (5) well-settled instances when a warrantless search and seizure of property is valid,[44] are as follows:

1.      warrantless search incidental to a lawful arrest recognized under Section 12, Rule 126 of the Rules of Court[45] and by prevailing jurisprudence[46],

2.      Seizure of evidence in "plain view", the elements of  which are:[47]

(a).        a prior valid intrusion based on the valid warrantless arrest in which the police are legally present in the pursuit of their official duties;

(b).        the evidence was inadvertently discovered by the police who had the right to be where they are;

(c).        the evidence must be immediately apparent, and

(d).        "plain view" justified mere seizure of evidence without further search.[48]

3.      search of a moving vehicle.[49] Highly regulated by the government, the vehicle's inherent mobility reduces expectation of privacy especially when its transit in public thoroughfares furnishes a highly reasonable suspicion amounting to probable cause that the occupant committed a criminal activity.[50]

4.      consented warrantless search, and

5.      customs search.

In conformity with respondent court's observation, it indeed appears that the authorities stumbled upon petitioner's firearms and ammunitions without even undertaking any active search which, as it is commonly understood, is a prying into hidden places for that which is concealed.[51] The seizure of the Smith & Wesson revolver and an M-16 rifle magazine was justified for they came within "plain view" of the policemen who inadvertently discovered the revolver and magazine tucked in petitioner's waist and back pocket respectively, when he raised his hands after alighting from his Pajero.  The same justification applies to the confiscation of the M-16 armalite rifle which was immediately apparent to the policemen as they took a casual glance at the Pajero and saw said rifle lying horizontally near the driver's seat.[52] Thus it has been held that:

"(W)hen in pursuing an illegal action or in the commission of a criminal offense, the . . . police officers should happen to discover a criminal offense being committed by any person, they are not precluded from performing their duties as police officers for the apprehension of the guilty person and the taking of the corpus delicti."[53]

"Objects whose possession are prohibited by law inadvertently found in plain view are subject to seizure even without a warrant."[54]

With respect to the Berreta pistol and a black bag containing assorted magazines, petitioner voluntarily surrendered them to the police.[55] This latter gesture of petitioner indicated a waiver of his right against the alleged search and seizure[56], and that his failure to quash the information estopped him from assailing any purported defect.[57]

Even assuming  that the firearms and ammunitions were products of an active search done by the authorities on the person and vehicle of petitioner, their seizure without a search warrant nonetheless can still be justified under a search incidental to a lawful arrest (first instance).  Once the lawful arrest was effected, the police may undertake a protective search[58] of the passenger compartment and containers in the vehicle[59] which are within petitioner's grabbing distance regardless of the nature of the offense.[60] This satisfied the two-tiered test of an incidental search: (i) the item to be searched (vehicle) was within the arrestee's custody or area of immediate control[61] and (ii) the search was contemporaneous with the arrest.[62] The products of that search are admissible evidence not excluded by the exclusionary rule.  Another justification is a search of a moving vehicle (third instance).  In connection therewith, a warrantless search is constitutionally permissible when, as in this case, the officers conducting the search have reasonable or probable cause to believe, before the search, that either the motorist is a law-offender (like herein petitioner with respect to the hit and run) or the contents or cargo of the vehicle are or have been instruments or the subject matter or the proceeds of some criminal offense.[63]

x x x."

[G.R. No. 121917.  March 12, 1997] - ROBIN CARIÑO PADILLA @ ROBINHOOD PADILLA, petitioner, vs. COURT OF APPEALS and PEOPLE of the PHILIPPINES, respondents.