The law defines an arrest as the taking of a person into custody in order that he may be bound to answer for the commission of an offense, and is made by an actual restraint of a person to be arrested or his voluntary submission to the custody of the person making the arrest.
As a general rule, arrests may be made only by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by a competent court.
This is in line with the Constitutional provision that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
However, it is not lost upon us that we often hear of persons arrested by authorities without a warrant of arrest, which often prompts the question of whether or not it is legal.
Warrantless arrests are recognized under Philippine laws, but only on grounds specifically provided by our rules of court.
Section 4, Rule 113 of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure provides that a person in authority, or even a private individual, may arrest a person without a warrant, only under the following circumstances:
- When, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense;
- When an offense has just been committed, and he (the arresting officer/private person) has probable cause to believe based on personal knowledge of facts and circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it; and
- When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or is temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another.
The first ground for warrantless arrest refers to what we often call an “in flagrante delicto” arrest, or an arrest made while the suspect is “caught in the act.”. In this case, the person to be arrested must be shown to be in the act of actually committing or attempting to commit a crime in the presence or within the view of the arresting officer.
The second ground refers to the principle of a “hot pursuit” arrest, where an offense has just been committed and that the arresting officer has probable cause, based on his personal knowledge, of facts and circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it. It is not necessary that the arresting officer personally witnessed the commission of the offense, but only that he had personal knowledge of facts and circumstances that would point to the person to be arrested as the one who committed the offense.
The third ground for warrantless arrest is simply that a person who has escaped from jail or detention must be brought back to prison or to his place of detention, without need of a warrant.
