Lansang vs.

Garcia
42 SCRA 448
FACTS:
Due to the throwing of two hand grenades in a Liberal Party caucus in
1971 causing the death of 8 people, Marcos issued PP 889 which suspended
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Marcos urged that there is a need
to curtail the growth of Maoist groups. Subsequently, Lansang et al were
invited by the PC headed by Garcia for interrogation and investigation.

Lansang et al questioned the validity of the suspension of the writ

averring that the suspension does not meet the constitutional requisites.
ISSUE:
WON the Supreme Court has a jurisdiction as to whether or not the
President Marcos arbitrarily or gravely abused his discretion when he then
concluded that public safety and national security required the suspension of
the privilege of the writ.
RULING:
1. Yes. The Solicitor General urged that “judicial inquiry into the basis of
the questioned proclamation can go no further than to satisfy the
Court not that the President’s decision is correct and that public safety
was endangered by the re bellion and justified the suspension of the
writ, but that in suspending the writ, the President did not act
arbitrarily. “No cogent reason has been submitted to warrant the
rejection of such test.

Considering the data in the possession of the President, the Court is

not prepared to hold that the Executive had acted arbitrarily or gravely
abused his discretion when he then concluded that public safety and
national security required the suspension of the privilege of the writ,
particularly if the NPA were to strike simultaneously with violent
demonstrations staged by the two hundred forty-five (245) KM
chapters, all over the Philippines, with the assistance and cooperation
of the dozens of GPP organizations, and the bombing
of water mains and conduits, as well as electric power plants and
installations—– a possibility which, no matter how remote, he
was bound to forestall, and a danger he was under obligation to
anticipate and arrest.