Case Digest (G.R. No. 161106)
Facts:
Worldwide Web Corporation and Cherryll L. Yu v. People of the Philippines and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, G.R. Nos. 161106 and 161266, January 13, 2014, Supreme Court First Division, Sereno, C.J., writing for the Court.Petitioners are Worldwide Web Corporation (WWC) (an Internet service provider) and its former director Cherryll L. Yu, and Planet Internet Corporation (a Value-Added Service provider registered with the NTC). Respondent Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and the People, through Police Chief Inspector Napoleon Villegas of the RISOO, sought search warrants alleging that petitioners conducted illegal toll-bypass operations that deprived PLDT of revenues and violated theft provisions and P.D. No. 401.
On 25 September 2001 the Quezon City RTC (Branch 78) held a hearing on the applications for search warrants; PLDT witnesses Jose Enrico Rivera and Raymund Gali described test calls and the technical means by which international calls were allegedly routed to appear as local calls, and identified telephone numbers registered to WWC but used by Planet Internet. On 26 September 2001 the RTC issued three search warrants authorizing seizure of telecommunications equipment, computers, storage media and related documents; the warrants were executed that same day and over a hundred items were inventoried and seized.
Petitioners filed motions to quash in October 2001 on grounds that (a) there was no probable cause because toll bypass was not a crime, (b) the warrants were general, and (c) seized items were fruits of an invalid search. The RTC granted the motions to quash (Resolutions dated 13 November 2001), finding the warrants tantamount to general warrants, and ordered release of the seized properties; PLDT’s motion for reconsideration was denied for lack of conformity of the City Prosecutor as required by Section 5, Rule 110.
PLDT appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA-G.R. CR No. 26190). The CA Special Thirteenth Division reversed and declared the search warrants valid (Decision dated 20 August 2003; authored by Justice Barrios with Salvador and Mendoza concurring) and denied petitioners’ motions for reconside...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did the Court of Appeals err in entertaining PLDT’s appeal despite PLDT’s lack of conformity from the public prosecutor and notwithstanding that it appealed rather than filing a Rule 65 certiorari petition?
- Were the search warrants issued upon probable cause given that the alleged toll bypass did not constitute a crime?
- Were the search warrants void as general warrants for lack of particularity in ...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)