IBP concerned over arrest of 3 lawyers in Makati bar raid

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) yesterday expressed concern over the arrest of three lawyers by the police during a raid at a bar in Makati City where illegal drugs were recovered.

“The arrest and detention of three lawyers for alleged obstruction of justice and the filing of charges for “constructive possession” of illegal drugs, when they had every right to represent their client and be present to observe and record the implementation of a search warrant, raises grave concerns for the rule of law in the Philippines,” said IBP National President Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo in a statement.

During the implementation of a search warrant, the Station Drug Enforcement Unit (SDEU) of the Makati City Police arrested last August 16 lawyers Leni Rocel Elmido Rocha, Jan Vincent Sambrano Soliven, and Romulo Bernard Bustamante Alarcon at the Times Bar.

The Times Bar was raided last August 11 by police who seized P1.6 million worth of party drugs and marijuana.

Though the three introduced themselves as representing the Times Bar, police said the lawyers were arrested after having entered the premises without prior coordination, started taking pictures and videos of the team, and allegedly trying to intimidate authorities.

Police charged the lawyers with obstruction of justice, resistance and disobedience, violation of City Ordinance No. 96-298 or “unlawful for unauthorized person to cross a police line” and Section 11 (constructive possession) of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

However, Fajardo warned the Philippine National Police (PNP) that the treatment of the lawyers “erodes the Constitution’s guarantee of due process for every person – be they our son or daughter, teenagers who violated the curfew, or those suspected of committing a crime.”

Fajardo reminded PNP that the sworn duty of lawyers is “to use all lawful means to defend their clients.”

“They (lawyers) should not be harassed, intimidated or treated like criminals when performing their duty,” he stressed.

But Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo M. Año insisted the arrest of the three lawyers was lawfully carried out.

Año maintained the Makati police who made the arrest were just doing their jobs when they arrested the lawyers who interfered in their search for drugs and other evidence in the Time Bar right at the heart of the city’s Central Business District.