Villavicencio vs Lukban

Facts:
The Mayor of the city of Manila, Justo Lukban, ordered the segregated district for women of ill
repute, closed. The women were kept confined to their houses in the district by the police.
They were subsequently deported to Davao without their knowledge and consent, and were
received as laborers. They had not been asked if they wished to depart from that region and
had neither directly nor indirectly given their consent to the deportation. The attorney for the
relatives and friends of the deportees presented an application for the writ of habeas corpus to
the Supreme Court.

Issue:
Whether or not the deportation of the women to Davao is lawful.

Ruling:
No. The Supreme Court condemned the mayor’s act. Respondent’s intention to suppress the
social evil was commutable. But his methods were unlawful. One can search in vain for any law,
order, or regulation, which even hints at the right of the Mayor of the City of Manila or the
Chief of Police of that City to force citizens of the Philippine Islands, and these women despite
their being in a sense, lepers of society are nevertheless not chattels but Philippine citizens
protected by the same constitutional guarantees as other citizens.