CUSTODIAL INVESTIGATION AND INQUEST
What is the custodial investigation?
Custodial investigation occurs if a person is arrested and taken into police custody and interrogated for a crime. The custodial investigation also includes any questioning or probe of a person “invited” by a law enforcement officer in connection with an offense he or she is suspected to have committed in accordance with Republic Act No. 7438.
Rights of a person under custodial investigation and responsibilities and authority of arresting officer or investigator during custodial investigation
- During the custodial investigation, you have the right to be assisted by counsel of your choice at all times, and the arresting officer or investigator has the responsibility to ensure that this is provided.
- The arresting officer or investigator, as the case may be, has the duty to inform you of the following rights, in a language known to and understood by you:
- That you have the right to remain silent;
- That if you waive your rights to remain silent, anything you say can be used for or against you in court;
- That you have the right to counsel of your own choice;
- That if you cannot afford one, you shall be provided with an independent and competent counsel; and
- That you have the right to be informed of these rights.
- Should you opt to give a sworn statement, the arresting officer or investigator must reduce it in writing. He must also ensure that before you sign or place your thumb mark (if you cannot read or write) the sworn statement shall be read and adequately explained to you by the counsel of your choice, or by the assisting counsel provided to you, in the language or dialect known to you.
- The arresting officer or investigator must ensure that any extra-judicial confession you may have made under custodial investigation shall be:
- In writing
- Signed by you in the presence of your counsel
- In the absence of your counsel, upon a valid waiver, and in the presence of any of your parents, elder brothers and sisters, spouse, the municipal mayor, the municipal judge, district school supervisor, priest, imam, or minister of the gospel as you may choose.
- Failure of the arresting officer or investigator to observe the above procedures renders such extrajudicial confession inadmissible as evidence in any proceedings.
- During the custodial investigation, the arresting officer or investigator has the duty to allow you to be visited by or have a conference with any member of your immediate family, any medical doctor, priest, or religious minister chosen by you or by your immediate family or by your counsel, or by any Non-Government Organization (NGO) accredited by the CHR, or by any international NGO duly accredited by the Office of the President, your spouse, fiancée, parent or child, brother or sister, grandparent or grandchild, uncle or aunt, nephew or niece, and guardian or ward.
What is Inquest Proceedings?
If you have been arrested and taken into custody based on a warrantless arrest, you will undergo a process called Inquest Proceedings. It is the informal and summary investigation conducted by a public prosecutor (called the inquest prosecutor) for the purpose of determining whether or not the warrantless arrest is valid.
Should you opt for a preliminary investigation or refuse to execute the required waiver, the investigator proceeds with the inquest by submitting you before the inquest prosecutor, along with the sworn statements or affidavits of the complainant, and his witnesses if any, and other supporting evidence.
Your presence is required during the inquest proceedings, EXCEPT IF you are in the hospital, detained in a place under maximum security, if your presence will involve maximum security risk or if your presence is not feasible by reason of age, health, sex, and other similar factors.
The inquest proceedings commence when the inquest prosecutor receives from law enforcement authorities the affidavit of arrest, statements of the complainants, affidavits of the witnesses if any, and other supporting evidence gathered by law enforcement authorities in the course of their investigation of the criminal incident wherein you were involved. During the inquest, the inquest prosecutor, to the extent possible, should have the documents submitted to be subscribed and sworn before him by the arresting officer, complainants, and affiants.
DETENTION AND RELEASE
1. Who may be detained?
Any person arrested due to the commission of a crime or offense arrested suspects when covered by a Commitment Order and suspects arrested who are under custodial investigation may be detained.
However, under no circumstances shall the arrested suspects under custodial investigation be held in the detention center beyond the prescribed reglementary period unless, while in custody, appropriate charges have been filed and a commitment order has been issued by the court concerned.
2. Requirements for admission
Before you are admitted for detention, there are requirements that must be submitted by the arresting unit to the Chief of the Detention or Custodial Center:
- Request for custody of the arresting unit or the commitment order from the court;
- Proof of your medical examination or medical certificate to be provided by the arresting unit requesting for custody;
- Detainee’s case folder; and
- Proof that you were informed of your constitutional rights as provided under RA 7438 prior to your detention.
3. Visitation rights and rules
While on detention, you will be allowed visits by or conferences with any members of your immediate family, or any medical doctor or priest or religious minister chosen by you or by your immediate family or by your counsel, or by any Non-Government Organization (NGO) duly accredited by the Commission on Human Rights or by any international NGO duly accredited by the Office of the President.
The Chief of the Detention/Custodial Center or his duly authorized representative is authorized to apportion the number of visitors per detainee at any given time as the space of the visitor’s area may allow.
Visiting family members must present public and/or pertinent documents to prove their relationship with you. Visitors wearing the color of the detainee’s uniform will be advised to wear another color. Conjugal visits will not be allowed during detention. Cameras, video equipment, cellular phones, and similar devices are not allowed inside the visiting area.
Your counsel has the right to visit you at any date and any time of the day subject to existing security rules and regulations of the detention/custodial center.
4. Release
Detainees can be released only upon issuance of a release order by the court. Upon confirmation of the court order, the Chief of Detention/Custodial Center will coordinate with other concerned units/offices to determine if there are objections to the release or if there are other pending warrants of arrest for the person who is about to be released.
If there are objections to the release, the arresting unit will make a written manifestation containing its objections. If there are valid grounds to sustain further detention, the Chief, Detention/Custodial Center in coordination with the arresting unit prepares appropriate MANIFESTATION for the court containing therein the ground/s for objection.
Granting that all documents are legally in order, the Chief, Detention/Custodial Center prepares the memorandum addressed to the Chief of Office for the approval of the release.
Prior to the official release, the detainee will be given a medical examination by the city/municipal health office or health center (Health Service or Rural Health Unit).
The results form part of the records/case folder of the detainee.
All properties seized from the detainee will also be released to him upon his discharge from detention.
5. Segregation of detainees
The detainees will be segregated according to gender and, as much as possible, classification of crimes committed.
6 PNP Policy on non-presentation of arrested suspects to media
Pursuant to the Memorandum of the Chief, PNP dated October 7, 2008, suspects arrested for any violation of the law shall in no case be presented in a “firing line” to the media. However, the arresting PNP unit/office may use the media, print and broadcast alike, to inform the public about the arrest of the suspect/s, the crime committed, its nature and circumstances, the time and place of its commission, and other person/s involved.
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