Case Digest (G.R. No. 88211)
Facts:
Ferdinand E. Marcos, et al., G.R. No. 88211, October 27, 1989, Supreme Court En Banc, Per Curiam, decided a motion for reconsideration following the Court's September 15, 1989 dismissal of a petition that had challenged the Executive's prohibition on the return of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos and members of his family. The September 15 decision (by an 8–7 vote) had held that the President did not act arbitrarily or with grave abuse of discretion in determining that the return of the Marcoses at that time would threaten national interest and welfare.On September 28, 1989, Ferdinand E. Marcos died in Honolulu, Hawaii. President Corazon C. Aquino publicly announced that Marcos’s remains would not be allowed into the Philippines “until such time as the government … shall otherwise decide.” On October 2, 1989 petitioners (the Marcoses, family members and PHILCONSA) filed a Motion for Reconsideration asking the Court to revisit its September 15 dismissal and to compel respondents — Executive officials including the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Executive Secretary, the Secretary of Justice, the Immigration Commissioner, and the Secretary of National Defense and Chief of Staff — to issue travel documents and to enjoin implementation of the President’s decision barring the return of Marcos’s remains and the other petitioners.
The Motion for Reconsideration argued (inter alia) that barring the Marcoses — and the remains of the late President — denied Filipinos the inherent right to return to their country and other constitutional protections; that the President lacked power to bar a Filipino from his own country or had exercised any such power arbitrarily; and that there was no factual basis for denying reentry to the Marcos family. The Solicitor General opposed reconsideration as moot with respect to the deceased Marcos and contended that the claimed rights were in substance a right to destabilize the government.
The Court, in a per curiam resolution, deni...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- In light of Ferdinand Marcos’s death, should the Court grant the Motion for Reconsideration of its September 15, 1989 dismissal?
- Did the President have constitutional authority to bar the return of former President Marcos, his family and remains, and did she act arbitrarily or with grave abuse of ...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)