Court: No need for TRO on QC drug tests
A judge yesterday denied a petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on house-to-house surveying and drug testing after the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) voluntarily stopped the project.
Judge Editha Mina-Aguba of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 100 said she did not see any reason to issue the TRO sought by residents of Barangays South Triangle and Payatas.
Maria Kristina Conti, secretary general of the National Union of People’s Lawyer (NUPL) National Capital Region, said they believe the QCPD’s desistance just made the petition moot.
Conti said they still see it as a positive development, as Aguba has ordered a hearing on their petition for preliminary injunction later this month.
The 32 petitioners, who will be represented by NUPL, are asking the court to declare the house visitations and drug testing as unconstitutional and permanently enjoin the police from implementing these operations.
NUPL argued that the house visitations and drug testing violated the rights to privacy and against unreasonable searches and seizure, which are guaranteed by the Constitution.
The group added that the operation also violates the constitutional right against self-incrimination and presumption of innocence by the affected parties.
Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director, testified during yesterday’s hearing that they have stopped all such operations in their jurisdiction last month but defended that the testing was done on a voluntary basis.
Eleazar admitted that the QCPD Station 6, under the leadership of former commander Superintendent Lito Patay, could have been “overzealous” in its campaign against drugs.
He, however, said the QCPD cannot stop the surveying or drug testing since the police officers are just assisting the barangay officials.
“They are barking up the wrong tree,” Eleazar said in an interview.
This claim was bucked by Conti, who said the petitioners claimed that it was the other way around, that police were conducting the operation and that barangay officials were providing assistance.
The QCPD official said he has since issued a directive to all of his men to just provide security and police visibility during similar operations if requested by the barangay.