Supreme Court has decided

The Supreme Court has handed down the decision where all law enforcers are required to "make video recordings of their implementation of court-issued warrants or face sanctions." They are to use at least one body cam and an alternative recording device such as a cellphone camera in recording the implementation of search, arrest, and seizure warrants. Failure to comply will result in contempt of court. The high court has also disallowed judges in Manila and Quezon City to "authorize search operations by law enforcers in the provinces under new rules issued by the Supreme Court following complaints of abuse and the killings of activists." You will recall that "bloody Sunday" where nine suspected New People's Army rebels were killed in separate operations in Cavite, Rizal, and Batangas based on warrants issued by judges of the regional trial courts of Manila and Quezon City. Law enforcers are no longer allowed to serve warrants outside the jurisdiction of the issuing judge.

This is quite a victory for those who believed abuses have been made by law enforcers when serving what they call "death warrants". I can imagine this decision by the high court will change how law enforcers serve search warrants from now on. Or will it? If they strictly follow the guidelines set by the high court then definitely, yes. But according to the National Union of People's Lawyers, several loopholes still exist for state agents to disregard the guidelines. One such loophole is the recognition of the high court for "state agents needed to turn the cameras off at certain times for their security, to protect the identities of witnesses and to ensure the success of operations". That's quite a large loophole if you ask me. Officers serving warrants may use this excuse all the time to justify why a recording was not made.

Then you have the "camera malfunctioned" scenario. The high court made no mention of any accountability should these situations happen. It is up to the technical working group ordered by PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar to study the high court ruling and draft a memorandum regarding the use of body cameras and the recording of operations involving search warrants and anti-drug operations. We can only hope Gen. Eleazar sees to it that all the guidelines are met, and prove police operations are regular and within the law and not exploit loopholes if only to carry out "targets" if you know what I mean.

Several scenarios may happen from now on. One is we see a decrease in the number of persons killed during the serving of search, arrest, and seizure warrants or even the serving of search warrants themselves because of the video recording now required and the clipping of the powers of Metro Manila courts. Two is we see a lot of camera malfunctions, whether body cams or cellphone cameras during operations. Although it may be harder to prove a cellphone camera malfunctioning. We can only wait how the Supreme Court decision plays out with the PNP, at least under Gen. Eleazar.