Source: https://privacy.com.ph/dndfeature/privacy-used-commit-crimes/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 15:02:04+00:00

Document:
The tension between privacy and security has been the subject of countless debates.1 While unfettered privacy may be prone to abuse impairing the state’s capacity to police unlawful activity, an uncontrolled government would result in tyranny.2 This article will look at how the abuse of the right to privacy facilitates the commission of crime.
Unfortunately, some crimes may only be uncovered by overstepping some of the boundaries of individual privacy.9 For instance, the possession of narcotic drugs is difficult to detect and prove. Drugs are easily concealed as they can be carried on the person or even in the body crevasses where detection is almost impossible.10 Because of the mantle of protection provided by the right to privacy, law enforcement is limited to reactive investigations, rather than a proactive or aggressive one. In drug-related cases, for example, law enforcers would typically wait for informers in order to prosecute the crime. In instances where law enforcers try to actively prosecute the crime, the courts may rule that the seizure of drugs violated the Constitution. Hence, in a case where the accused was compelled by a barangay official to show the contents of his bag after he had gotten off a bus, the Supreme Court ruled that the marijuana leaves thus obtained were illegally acquired evidence.11 In another case where police officers spotted, at a distance of about 10 meters, an exchange of plastic sachets, the Court pronounced that the confiscation of the sachets containing methamphetamine was illegal.12 Likewise, when police officers peeked through a partially opened door of a house and found individuals holding drug paraphernalia, the Court ruled that the seizure of those objects were forbidden.13 In all these cases, the Constitutional provision, protecting the right of the people to be secure in their houses and effects, is violated.
2 Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J., Constitutional Rights and Social Demands: Notes and Cases Part II (1997).
3 Section 2, Article III of 1987 Constitution.
4 People v. Romana. G.R. No. 200334 (2014).
5 Fajardo v. People. G.R. No. 190889 (2011).
6 Castillo v. People. G.R. 185128 (2012).
8 Applegate, John S., “The Business Papers Rule: Personal Privacy and White Collar Crime” (1982). Articles by Maurer Faculty Paper 846.
11 Valdez v. People. G.R. No. 170180 (2007).
12 Gonzales v. People. G.R. No. 205926 (2015).
13 Codes v. People. G.R. No. 180661 (2013).
32 Rep. Act No. 9165 (2002), sec. 5.
34 Rep. Act No. 10175 (2011), sec. 4.
45 Applegate, John S., “The Business Papers Rule: Personal Privacy and White Collar Crime” (1982). Articles by Maurer Faculty. Paper 846.

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