Case Digest (G.R. No. 227635)
Facts:
Leila M. De Lima, petitioner, v. President Rodrigo R. Duterte, respondent, G.R. No. 227635, October 15, 2019, Supreme Court En Banc, Bersamin, C.J., writing for the Court.Senator Leila M. De Lima filed a petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas data against President Rodrigo R. Duterte, arising from a series of public statements by the President beginning August 2016 that she alleged threatened her right to life, liberty, security and informational privacy. The statements included public denunciations, sexualized and demeaning remarks, allegations of involvement in illegal drugs, and an assertion that, “with the help of another country,” the President had been listening to her. De Lima sought injunctions restraining the President (and his agents) from collecting and publicizing private data about her, disclosure of sources, deletion or rectification of data, and prophylactic orders against further defamatory or degrading statements.
The Court en banc treated as a threshold question whether the petition could proceed where the incumbent President was the sole named respondent. On November 8, 2016 the Court directed memoranda from petitioner and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on whether presidential immunity from suit barred the action; the parties traversed each other’s submissions thereafter. The OSG argued that presidential immunity during incumbency is absolute and applies to all suits (including amparo/habeas data), relying on Philippine precedent; petitioner invoked foreign (U.S.) authority (notably Clinton v. Jones) and argued immunity should not bar judicial relief for unofficial acts and that dismissal without the President’s invocation would be premature.
The Court resolved the jurisdictional/immunity question by way of an en banc resolution dismissing the habeas data petition on the ground of presidential immunity during incumbency, and issued a short dispos...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- May an incumbent President be haled to court in a petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas data?
- Does presidential immunity during incumbency depend on whether the acts complained of are official or unofficial?
- Must the President invoke the privilege of presidential immunity before a court may app...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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