Facts:

• Petitioners: Lino Brocka, Benjamin Cervantes, Cosme Garcia, Rodolfo Santos, and others.
• Respondents: Juan Ponce Enrile, Maj. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, Brig. Gen. Pedro Balbanero, and others.
• Petition filed on February 13, 1985, for a writ of habeas corpus and to stop the City Fiscal of Quezon City from investigating charges of "Inciting to Sedition."
• Petitioners arrested on January 28, 1985, during a demonstration supporting a jeepney strike by the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization (ACTO).
• Initially charged with Illegal Assembly in Criminal Cases Nos. 37783, 37787, and 37788; Brocka and others denied bail.
• Provisional release on February 14, 1985, after an urgent bail petition, but remained detained due to a Preventive Detention Action (PDA) not properly documented.
• Charged with Inciting to Sedition on February 11, 1985, without prior notice to counsel.
• Petitioners argued that the new charges constituted double jeopardy and were motivated by bad faith and harassment.

Issue:

• (Unlock)

Ruling:

• The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the petitioners.
• The petition was granted, permanently enjoining the trial court from proceeding with the criminal cases for Inciting to Sedition.
• The Court found the prosecution was undertaken i...(Unlock)

Ratio:

• The Court noted that while generally, criminal prosecution cannot be restrained by injunction, exceptions exist, especially when constitutional rights are at risk.
• Identified exceptions include persecution rather than prosecution, manifest bad faith, and prosecutions based on invalid laws.
• The respondents acted in bad faith b...continue reading