The case of Christian Cadajas vs People of the Philippines, G.R. No. 247348, raises several issues that are deserving of separate discussions. For now, we shall focus on the issue of the violation of one’s right to privacy. Facts Christian Cadajas met the victim, AAA, in the canteen where he works. At the time, he was 24 while AAA was 14. Their relationship began when AAA’s younger sibling told Cadajas that AAA had a crush on him. Cadajas tried to evade AAA, but then she began to stalk him and eventually sent a request in his Facebook Messenger, which he accepted. Cajadas and AAA would then begin exchanging messages on Facebook Messenger. Eventually, Cadajas courted AAA for two weeks, until they got together on April 2, 2016. AAA would borrow the cellphone of her mother, BBB, to access her own Facebook account. This is how BBB learned of the relationship in June 2016. She was then able to read their messages whenever AAA forgot to log out of her account. BBB disapproved of their relationship because AAA was still too young, but the couple ignored her admonishment. Sometime in October 2016, BBB was disheartened when she read that Cadajas was sexually luring her daughter into meeting with him in a motel. She confronted Cadajas and told him to stay away from AAA as she was still a minor. At around 5:30 in the morning of November 18, 2016, BBB was shocked to find out that Cadajas had been coaxing her daughter into sending him photos of her own breasts and vagina. AAA relented and sent Cadajas the photos he was asking. When AAA learned that her mother read their conversation, she rushed to a computer shop to delete her messages. BBB, however, was able to force her to open Cadajas’s Facebook Messenger account to get a copy of their conversation. Cadajas admitted to sending AAA messages such as, “oo ready ako sa ganyan,” and “sige hubad.” He, however, denied having sent AAA photos of his privates. On November 17, 2016, AAA asked Cadajas to delete their messages from his account. He even told her, “bakit kasi hindi ka pa nagtitino, hayan tuloy nakita ng mama mo.” On the same day, Cadajas broke up with AAA because her mother did not like him. Cadajas was charged for violation of Section 10(a) of R.A. No. 7610, also known as the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act. He was also charged for child pornography as defined and penalized under Section 4(c)(2) of R.A. No. 10175, known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, in relation to Sections 4(a), 3(b) and (c)(5) of R.A. No. 9775, known as the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009. One of the arguments raised by the petitioner concerns the admissibility of the evidence presented by the prosecution, which was taken from his Facebook messenger account. He claims that the photos presented in evidence during the trial of the case were taken from his Facebook messenger account. According to him, this amounted to a violation of his right to privacy, and therefore, any evidence obtained in violation thereof amounts to a fruit of the poisonous tree. Issue Is the evidence, which was taken from Cadajas’ Facebook messenger account, presented by the prosecution inadmissible, and therefore violated Cadajas’ right to privacy? Under the 1987 Constitution, the right of privacy is expressly recognized under Article III, Sec. 3 thereof, which reads: SECTION 3. (1) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety or order requires otherwise as prescribed by law. (2) Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding section shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding. While the above provision highlights the importance of the right to privacy and its consequent effect on the rules on admissibility of evidence, one must not lose sight of the fact that the Bill of Rights was intended to protect private individuals against government intrusions. Hence, its provisions are not applicable between and amongst private individuals. While the case of Zulueta v. Court of Appeals (Zulueta) may appear to carve out an exception to the abovementioned rule by recognizing the rule on inadmissible of evidence between spouses when one obtains evidence in violation of his/her spouse’s right to privacy, such a pronouncement tis a mere obliter dictum that cannot be considered as a binding precedent. This is because the petition brought to the Court in Zulueta simply asked for the return of the documents seized by the wife and thus, pertained to the ownership of the documents therein. Moreover, documents were declared inadmissible because of the injunction order issued by the trial court and not on account of Art. III, Sec. 3 of the Constitution. At any rate, violation of the right to privacy between individuals is properly governed by the provisions of the Civil Code, the Data Privacy Act (DPA), and other pertinent laws, while its admissibility shall be governed by the rules on relevance, materiality, authentication of documents, and the exclusionary rules under the Rules on Evidence. In this case, the photographs and conversations in the Facebook Messenger account that were obtained and used as evidence against Cadajas, which he considers as fruit of the poisonous tree, were not obtained through the efforts of the police officers or any agent of the State. Rather, these were obtained by a private individual. Indeed, the rule governing the admissibility of an evidence under Article III of the Constitution must affect only those pieces of evidence obtained by the State through its agents. It is these individuals who can flex government muscles and use government resources for possible abuse. However, where private individuals are involved, for which their relationship is governed by the New Civil Code, the admissibility of an evidence cannot be determined by the provisions of the Bill of Rights. Be that as it may, the act of AAA cannot be said to
