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    DOJ Circular No. 50 (Oct. 1990)

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    Josh Gatus
    This document is a Department Circular from the Department of Justice in the Philippines regarding the practice of filing "John Doe" informations against unnamed persons. It directs prosecutors to: 1) Elicit specific descriptions from witnesses to distinguish John Does from others; and 2) Only substitute named persons for John Does when the witness description substantially matches the person. The circular explains that arrest warrants for unnamed John Does violate constitutional protections and are akin to prohibited general warrants that fail to particularly describe the person to be seized. Prosecutors are instructed to strictly comply with these new policies regarding John Doe informations going forward.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    DOJ Circular No. 50 (Oct. 1990)

    Uploaded by

    Josh Gatus
    50 views1 page
    This document is a Department Circular from the Department of Justice in the Philippines regarding the practice of filing "John Doe" informations against unnamed persons. It directs prosecutors to: 1) Elicit specific descriptions from witnesses to distinguish John Does from others; and 2) Only substitute named persons for John Does when the witness description substantially matches the person. The circular explains that arrest warrants for unnamed John Does violate constitutional protections and are akin to prohibited general warrants that fail to particularly describe the person to be seized. Prosecutors are instructed to strictly comply with these new policies regarding John Doe informations going forward.

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    This document is a Department Circular from the Department of Justice in the Philippines regarding the practice of filing "John Doe" informations against unnamed persons. It directs prosecutors to: 1) Elicit specific descriptions from witnesses to distinguish John Does from others; and 2) Only substitute named persons for John Does when the witness description substantially matches the person. The circular explains that arrest warrants for unnamed John Does violate constitutional protections and are akin to prohibited general warrants that fail to particularly describe the person to be seized. Prosecutors are instructed to strictly comply with these new policies regarding John Doe informations going forward.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    50 views1 page

    DOJ Circular No. 50 (Oct. 1990)

    Uploaded by

    Josh Gatus
    This document is a Department Circular from the Department of Justice in the Philippines regarding the practice of filing "John Doe" informations against unnamed persons. It directs prosecutors to: 1) Elicit specific descriptions from witnesses to distinguish John Does from others; and 2) Only substitute named persons for John Does when the witness description substantially matches the person. The circular explains that arrest warrants for unnamed John Does violate constitutional protections and are akin to prohibited general warrants that fail to particularly describe the person to be seized. Prosecutors are instructed to strictly comply with these new policies regarding John Doe informations going forward.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 1

    •

    Republika hg Pilipinas
    KAGAWARAN NG KATARUNGAN
    •
    I
    r.:··~

    Department of Justice
    Manila

    October 29, 1990

    DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR NO.

    TO All Provincial and City Prosecutors and


    Their Assistants' and State Prosecutors

    SUBJECT "JOHN DOE" INFORMATIONS

    The attention of this Department has been invited to the


    practice of some prosecutors of filing informations against
    persons who' apart from being merely identified as "John Does",
    are not othetwise particularly described to distinguish them or
    set them apart from other persons. This practice has resulted
    in instances where the names of persons who are subsequently
    arrested are substituted in place of the "John Does" in the
    information even though the evidence extant in the records of
    the case does not show any substantial identify between the
    former and the latter.

    Warrants of arrest against John Does", the witnesses 11

    against whom could not or would not identify them' is of the


    nature of general warrants and one of a class of writs long
    proscribed and anathematized as "totally subversive of the
    liberty of the subject. 11 It is violative of the constitutional
    injunction that warrants of arrest should particularly describe
    the person or persons to be seizede (Pangandaman vs. Casar,
    159 SCRA 599).

    Henceforth, as a matter of policy of this Department,


    wheneyer a complaint implicating a "John Doe" is filed, you
    are hereby directed to:

    1. elicit from the witnesses other appropriate des-


    criptions to particularly describe a "John Doe" to
    distinguish him or set him apart from the others, and

    2. to place a new name in the information in lieu of


    a II John Doe" only when the description of this
    "John Doe" as appearing in the sworn statement
    of a witness substantially tallies with the des-
    criptictl).C~ttlie.7~ placed in "John Doe•s''stead.
    ' ' ' '. 1~·-, ~-....
    t · •· : ·,' · · ' "i r {
    1
    For your::stric.t, ootp.pli.~nc~~·
    ' - i • ~ ,'' ·"" , - \ ' ;

    ' ii?
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    FRA

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