Case Digest (G.R. No. L-6784)
Facts:
Natividad Miranda, Luis Miranda, Pedro Miranda, Ramon Miranda and Faustino Miranda, Petitioners, vs. Deportation Board, Respondent, G.R. No. L-6784, March 12, 1954, the Supreme Court En Banc, Bautista Angelo, J., writing for the Court.Petitioners are five persons charged before the Deportation Board on November 17, 1952 with having entered the Philippines by fraud and misrepresentation: although alleged children of Chinese parents, they were said to have represented themselves as legitimate children of Faustino Miranda, a Filipino citizen, and to have been landed as such. Because of the charges petitioners were arrested and detained at the detention station of the Bureau of Immigration, but were later released on posting bonds of P1,000 each.
On June 18, 1953 the petitioners filed a motion to quash before the Deportation Board, asserting that they are Filipino citizens and that, therefore, the Board had no jurisdiction to entertain the deportation charges. The Board denied the motion and set the case for hearing on July 7, 1953. Thereupon petitioners filed the present petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to restrain the Board from proceeding with the deportation hearing and, incidentally, to have respondent show cause why petitioners should not be released for lack of jurisdiction.
Petitioners’ principal contention was that the jurisdiction of the Deportation Board is confined to persons who are admittedly aliens and that the Board loses jurisdiction when the arrested persons allege citizenship. ...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Does the Deportation Board have jurisdiction to proceed with deportation hearings against persons who allege Filipino citizenship, or should habeas corpus issue to restrain the Board and secure petitioners’ release?
- Does a mere plea of citizenship divest the Deportation Board of jurisdiction over deportation proceedings, or must claimants make some threshold showing?
- Was the Deportation Board’s allowance of blood tests on petitioners an excess of jurisdiction or grave abuse ...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)