Aquino v.

Enrile
59 SCRA 183

FACTS:
The cases are all petitions for habeas corpus, the petitioners having been arrested and detained by the
military by virtue of Proclamation 1081. The petitioners were arrested and held pursuant to General
Order No.2 of the President "for being participants or for having given aid and comfort in the conspiracy
to seize political and state power in the country and to take over the Government by force..." General
Order No. 2 was issued by the President in the exercise of the power he assumed by virtue of
Proclamation 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.

ISSUES:
1) Is the existence of conditions claimed to justify the exercise of the power to declare martial law
subject to judicial inquiry?; and
2) Is the detention of the petitioners legal in accordance to the declaration of martial law?

HELD:
5 Justices held that the issue is a political question, hence, not subject to judicial inquiry, while 4 Justices
held that the issue is a justiciable one. However, any inquiry by this Court in the present cases into the
constitutional sufficiency of the factual bases for the proclamation of martial law has become moot and
academic. Implicit in the state of martial law is the suspension of the privilege of writ of habeas corpus
with respect to persons arrested or detained for acts related to the basic objective of the proclamation,
which is to suppress invasion, insurrection or rebellion, or to safeguard public safety against imminent
danger thereof. The preservation of society and national survival takes precedence. The proclamation of
martial law automatically suspends the privilege of the writ as to the persons referred to in this case.