G.R. No.

87059 June 22, 1992

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
ROGELIO MENGOTE y TEJAS, accused-appellant.
CRUZ, J.:

Facts: Before noon of August 08, 1987, an informant, by a telephone call, tipped the police officers that suspicious
looking men were at the street corner in Tondo, Manila. The Police Officers dispatched to the place and saw two
men looking from side to side, one of them, who was clutching his abdomen, turned-out to be Mengote. The officers
approched them and introduced themselves as policemen. The two men tried to run away but was subdued by the
officers, they were frisked and there found in possession of Mengote a 38 caliber revolver with six live bullets in the
chamber and a fan knife in the possession of his companion Morellos. They were arrested and the weapons were
taken from them. The revolver seized was used as evidence against Mengote but he contends that the revolver
should not be admitted as evidence because the seizure was the product of an illegal search which is not incident to a
lawful arrest.

Issue : Whether or Not the arrest of Mengote is legal??

Held : No. the Supreme Court held that the accused acts of merely looking from side to side and holding his
abdomen, do not constitute enough basis to implement a warrantless arrest. There was apparently no offense that
had just been committed or was being actually committed or at least being attempted by the accused in the presence
of the arresting officers.In this case, the Solicitor General argued that the actual existence of an offense was not
necessary as long as Mengotes acts created a reasonable suspicion on the part of the arresting officers and induced
in them the belief that an offense had been committed and that the accused-appellant had committed it. The Court
shot down this argument stating that no offense could possibly have been suggested by a person looking from side
to side and holding his abdomen and in a place not exactly forsaken.