CASE 1

[ZACARIAS VILLAVICENCIO, ET AL., petitioners, vs. JUSTO LUKBAN, ET AL., respondents.

March 25, 1919]

FACTS:

Justo Lukban, respondent and then Mayor of Manila, sent 170 women to Davao. The women were confined
to their houses in the district by the police from October 16 to October 25, 1918. The vessels reached their
destination at Davao only on October 29, 1918. Lukban claims that the women were to be laborers and was
received by Feliciano Yñigo, a haciendero, Rafael Castillo, and Francisco Sales, the governor of Davao.
The women thought that they were being transported to another police station, while Yñigo, the haciendero
from Davao, had no idea that the women being sent to them as laborers him were actually prostitutes. The
families of the prostitutes then filed charges against Lukban, Anton Hohmann, the Chief of Police, and
Sales. They prayed for a writ for habeas corpus to a member of the Supreme Court to be issued against
the respondents to compel them to bring back the 170 women who were deported to Mindanao against
their will. The stipulation of the parties was made to include all of the women who were sent away from
Manila to Davao and, as the same questions concerned them all, the application will be considered as
including them. The SC granted the writ, however, the mayor was not able to bring any of the women
before the court on the stipulated date.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the respondents had authority to deport the women to Davao.

RULING: No further action on the writ of habeas corpus is necessary. The respondents Hohmann,
Rodriguez, Ordax, Joaquin, Yñigo, and Diaz are found not to be in contempt of court. Respondent Lukban
is found in contempt of court.