ZACARIAS VILLAVICENCIO, ET AL.

, petitioners,
vs.
JUSTO LUKBAN, ET AL., respondents.

March 25, 1919

Facts

Justo Lukban, who was then the Mayor of the City of Manila, ordered the deportation of 170
prostitutes to Davao. His reason for doing so was to preserve the morals of the people of Manila. He
claimed that the prostitutes were sent to Davao, purportedly, to work for an haciendero Feliciano
Ynigo. The prostitutes were confined in houses from October 16 to 18 of that year before being
boarded, at the dead of night, in two boats bound for Davao. The women were under the assumption
that they were being transported to another police station while Ynigo, the haciendero from Davao,
had no idea that the women being sent to work for him were actually prostitutes.

The families of the prostitutes came forward to file charges against Lukban, Anton Hohmann, the
Chief of Police, and Francisco Sales, the Governor of Davao. They prayed for a writ of habeas
corpus to be issued against the respondents to compel them to bring back the 170 women who were
deported to Mindanao against their will.

During the trial, it came out that, indeed, the women were deported without their consent. In effect,
Lukban forcibly assigned them a new domicile. Most of all, there was no law or order authorizing
Lukban's deportation of the 170 prostitutes.

Issue

Whether we are a government of laws or a government of men.

Held

We are clearly a government of laws. Lukban committed a grave abuse of discretion by deporting
the prostitutes to a new domicile against their will. There is no law expressly authorizing his action.
On the contrary, there is a law punishing public officials, not expressly authorized by law or
regulation, who compels any person to change his residence.

Furthermore, the prostitutes are still, as citizens of the Philippines, entitled to the same rights, as
stipulated in the Bill of Rights, as every other citizen. Their choice of profession should not be a
cause for discrimination. It may make some, like Lukban, quite uncomfortable but it does not
authorize anyone to compel said prostitutes to isolate themselves from the rest of the human race.
These women have been deprived of their liberty by being exiled to Davao without even being
given the opportunity to collect their belongings or, worse, without even consenting to being
transported to Mindanao. For this, Lukban et al must be severely punished.