BAGUIO CITY–A Tuguegarao City court has acquitted student activist Amanda Socorro Echanis of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, citing major flaws in the police search that led to her arrest and five-year detention.
In a ruling dated Dec. 27, 2025, and promulgated last Jan. 14, Regional Trial Court Branch 10 Judge Racquel Reyes-Aglaua also said the prosecution “failed to establish all the essential elements of the offenses charged.”
“Mere speculation and probabilities cannot substitute for the quantum of proof required in criminal cases,” she said.
Multiple lapses
Judge Reyes-Aglaua cited multiple lapses in the implementation of the search warrant, including a three-and-a-half-hour delay before the actual search, lack of transparency during the operation, and absence of proper documentation.
As stated in the joint affidavit of the operating team, police officers arrived at the house where Echanis was staying in Barangay Carupian, Baggao, Cagayan, around 5 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2020, but waited until 8:30 a.m. for barangay officials to arrive and serve as witnesses.
Given the coordinated nature of the police-military operation, the court found the delay questionable.
Patrolman Bert Joseph Alejandro, the designated search officer, admitted during the trial that he was not in full control of the premises prior to the search and could not account for the precise location or movements of his teammates while they were waiting.
In contrast, the court noted, the accused Echanis and the homeowner provided detailed and consistent accounts of the operatives entering the house and moving freely even before the search formally began. These accounts were not rebutted by the prosecution, the court noted.
Echanis and the homeowner testified that despite objections, a man wearing red shorts brought in a yellow sack and placed it near the doorway of Room 3, which was then occupied by the homeowner’s grandchild. Echanis was staying in Room 2.
While the warrant authorized a search of Room 3, the court said, Alejandro failed to clearly explain where and how the yellow sack—later said to contain a firearm and a grenade—was discovered.
“Notably, Pat. Alejandro’s testimony failed to clarify the precise location or circumstances under which the yellow sack was found,” the court said.
No documentation
The judge also took note of the fact that none of the witnesses in the house—Echanis, who was then tending to her month-old infant; the homeowner, who was initially asked to step outside; and Barangay Captain Valerio Calderon—could see what the operatives were doing during the search.
This was compounded by the absence of photographs documenting the alleged discovery of the firearm and grenade, despite the presence of a designated police photographer. “This omission was not explained by the prosecution,” the court said.
“The burden of proof shifted to the prosecution to demonstrate that no irregularities occurred prior to the accused’s arrest. Unfortunately, it failed to do so,” it said.
At the time of her arrest, Echanis was working as an organizer of the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women in Cagayan. While imprisoned, she wrote “Binhi ng Paglaya,” a collection of poems, essays, and a play, which was published in 2023 by Gantala Press and the Free Amanda Echanis Movement. In 2024, she was elected to a seat in the University of the Philippines Diliman Student Council.
She is the daughter of the National Democratic Front peace consultant Randall Echanis and the activist Linda Lacaba-Echanis. In August 2020, or four months before her arrest, her father was tortured and killed in Quezon City. As a young child, she was jailed along with her parents during the first Aquino administration. CS
