Philippine Law Updates
Philippine Law Updates is a podcast about relevant Philippine laws and jurisprudence compiled by Amicus Juris Production, a group of volunteer lawyers and law students based in Iloilo City and the Ilonggo Volunteer Lawyers (IVL).
Philippine Law Updates
HILARIO COSME Y TERENAL, PETITIONER, VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, RESPONDENT. (G.R. No. 261113, November 04, 2024)
This begs the question as to whether it was Cosme's burden to prove the existence of a valid license in favor of his employer in addition to the DDO that it had issued to him. Phrased differently, may a PSP be held guilty of illegal possession of firearm for failure to prove the existence of a valid license in favor of the security agency over the weapon it issued?
The answer must be in the negative. The reason is that appellant was entitled to assume that his employer had the requisite license to possess said firearm and ammunition and to turn them over to him while he was on duty as one of the regular security guards of the Bataan Veterans Security Agency, the same being a duly licensed security agency. As such, those dealing with it, either as clients or as employees thereof, are entitled to presume, in the absence of indicia to the contrary — and there were none in the present case — that it has complied with pertinent laws, rules and regulations.