Daily Serving of Legal Matters

Hours after Davao City's night market was blasted on September 2, 2016, Friday, which claimed 14 lives and injured more than 60 others, Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte declared a State of Lawlessness in the island of Mindanao.  A lot of people were clueless as to what the state of lawlessness is.  Some have speculated that it might be the same as the MARTIAL LAW.   image taken from www.youtube.com The 1987 Philippine Constitution, specifically in Section 18 of Article VII, provides the power of the President as a Commander-in-Chief to call for a state of lawlessness or lawless violence.  What is given in the constitution is not the state of lawlessness but a state of lawless violence.   Thus, "The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion." In essence, the armed forc...

Today, March 12, 2014, Delfin Lee will be brought to the Court of Appeals where his petition for habeas corpus was filed.  He was arrested to face the criminal charge of syndicated estafa.  He is the owner-developer of Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings. However, his lawyer cried for an illegal arrest because allegedly the warrant for his arrest was already lifted and quashed by the Court of Appeals.  The State argued that before the quashal order becomes final, it has timely filed a motion for reconsideration to that effect.   Thus, Lee's camp filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus and today is the scheduled hearing for such petition.  If the State cannot show good cause as to the detention of Delfin Lee, the latter might be released from prison. So what is this Habeas Corpus?  This post would discuss the meaning of this habeas corpus and how it would be availed. Definition of a Writ of Habeas Corpus: A Writ of Habeas Corpus is ...