Why visitors guidelines want updating to keep away from automated arrests in highway accidents

Set off warning: Mentions of loss of life, accident

At round 10 am on February 11, a male scholar misplaced his life after falling alongside EDSA northbound.

The sufferer fell to the bottom from the platform space of the Gentle Rail Transit’s Fernando Poe Jr. station, the Quezon Metropolis Police District (QCPD) mentioned, citing a witness testimony.

Afterwards, the coed “got here into the trail” of a shifting automobile pushed by an alias “Albert” towards the Balintawak space.

Based on the police, the sufferer sustained accidents and was declared useless on the scene.

On the onset, it might be deduced that the driving force was not at fault for the incident. Nevertheless, Albert was nonetheless held beneath police custody “whereas a radical investigation is ongoing to find out all of the circumstances surrounding the incident,” in line with the QCPD.

This transfer precipitated an uproar as a result of why would Albert — a driver passing by the highway, unaware of the incident that will unfold — be held in custody for one thing he had no management over?

Commonplace procedures?

In a press release on February 12, the QCPD clarified that the driving force was positioned beneath police custody as a part of the Philippine Nationwide Police’s (PNP) commonplace working procedures in incidents involving fatality.

“This measure is part of the investigative course of to make sure correct documentation and compliance with authorized necessities,” the police mentioned.

The QCPD initially mentioned that the driving force would face an inquest for reckless imprudence leading to murder beneath Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

An inquest continuing is an expedited kind of preliminary investigation carried out when an individual is detained with out a warrant. Below the RPC, an individual arrested with out a warrant must be dropped at court docket inside a most of 36 hours, and that’s for grave violations.

Nevertheless, amid the backlash, the QCPD later clarified that Albert wouldn’t face a case.

At 4 pm on February 12, the police additionally launched the driving force after investigation, and a overview of closed-circuit tv (CCTV) footage confirmed that there was “no obvious indication of negligence on the a part of the driving force.” The QCPD added that the sufferer’s father executed a notarized letter indicating that he wouldn’t file a criticism towards the driving force.

Pointless detention

Human rights lawyer and Nationwide Union of Peoples Attorneys (NUPL) president Ephraim Cortez advised Rappler that the driving force’s arrest was not solely pointless but in addition had no authorized foundation.

“The usual working process for the police is to conduct an investigation, but it surely doesn’t justify taking him into custody,” Cortez advised Rappler. “They will examine with out taking him into custody. He ought to have been launched instantly after his assertion was taken.”

Below the Guidelines of Court docket, an individual could solely be arrested with out a warrant if she or he is caught within the act, if there’s possible trigger to consider {that a} crime was dedicated, or if the particular person is a fugitive. 

The NUPL president defined that there’s a precept known as the “emergency rule” the place an individual is taken into account not “criminally negligent” if that particular person was performing a lawful act with due care; the hurt was brought on by a mere accident; and there was no fault or intent to trigger the damage.

“Witnesses and CCTV footage might confirm that the sufferer fell simply as he was passing by way of the world…. It was an accident, and placing the driving force in an unavoidable scenario the place hitting the sufferer was inevitable. In such a scenario, the driving force has no alternative to think about which motion is most secure,” Cortez added.

Lawyer and Bukidnon 2nd District Consultant Jonathan Keith Flores mentioned that what the QCPD had really carried out was an unlawful arrest and detention since there was no offense dedicated within the first place, including: “The circumstances of the scenario clearly present that QCPD had no possible trigger to arrest and detain the motorist. QCPD clearly violated the rights of the motorist.”

Nationwide Police Fee (Napolcom) vice chairperson and govt officer Rafael Calinisan clarified that arrest isn’t the default motion beneath police visitors procedures. Calinisan, nonetheless, mentioned that the procedures on police visitors guidelines must be clarified within the Napolcom and PNP’s new guide.

“Any lawyer price his salt would agree that no quantity of due diligence might have prevented that kind of incident. Depriving a clearly harmless particular person of liberty beneath the guise of ordinary process is opposite to the tenets of justice,” the Napolcom chief mentioned.

Pending payments

There are literally pending payments within the Senate and the Home of Representatives that search to guard drivers concerned in accidents. The proposed measures, each filed in 2025, search to guard law-abiding motorists from automated detention once they get entangled in highway accidents with different drivers.

In his Home Invoice No. 4769, Flores mentioned the usually misinterpreted Article 2185 of the Civil Code has led to drivers in highway accidents being thought-about routinely at fault, even in circumstances the place the opposite events could have been negligent or partly accountable.

Article 2185 states that except there’s proof on the contrary, an individual driving a automobile is presumed negligent if, on the time of the accident, the mentioned particular person is violating any visitors regulation.

“This invoice, subsequently, goals to make clear the presumptions relevant in highway security incidents or vehicular
mishaps to guard law-abiding drivers from misapplied authorized presumptions, and to obviously determine the
correct authorities who ought to make the preliminary evaluation of such presumptions,” Flores mentioned in his explanatory be aware.

In the meantime, Senator JV Ejercito’s Senate Invoice No. 338, or the proposed Defensive Driving Safety Act, seeks to stop the detention of a driver concerned in a vehicular accident so long as the particular person can current enough proof or proof that can show that the particular person didn’t violate any visitors legal guidelines in the course of the incident.

Among the many proof they’ll current are sprint digicam movies, CCTV footage, or different movies or pictures from different witnesses.

“In circumstances the place people can present compelling proof of their innocence or defensive driving, authorities ought to swiftly launch them. By prioritizing the swift launch of harmless drivers and conducting thorough investigations, we will set up a extra equitable and simply system that protects the rights of all events concerned in accidents,” Ejercito mentioned.

Based on Calinisan, the Senate measure would change the flawed visitors guidelines the place arrest is used because the default response in highway accidents.

“Arrest shouldn’t be the default response in incidents involving motorists. If there’s clear proof that the motorist adopted the legal guidelines and there’s no negligence, we’ve got no foundation to arrest the driving force,” the Napolcom chief mentioned in Filipino.

Sadly, each payments are nonetheless pending on the committee stage and have but to progress since 2025. – Rappler.com