Rubi vs Provincial Board of MindoroG.R. No.

14078, March 07, 1919

Facts:
The provincial board, by Resolution No. 25, selected a site in the sitio of Tigbao on Naujan
Lake for the permanent settlement of Mangyanes in Mindoro. Pursuant to the
provisions of section 2145 of the revised Administrative Code, all the Mangyans in the
vicinities of the townships of Naujan and Pola and the Mangyans east of the Baco River
including those in the districts of Dulangan and Rubi's place in Calapan are
directed to take up their habitation on the site of Tigbao, Naujan Lake.
This is an application for habeas corpus in favor of Rubi and other Manguianes of the
Province of Mindoro. It is alleged that the Mangyanes are being illegally deprived of their
liberty by the provincial officials of that province. Rubi and his companions are said to be
held on the reservation established at Tigbao, Mindoro, against their will, and one Dabalos is
said to be held under the custody of the provincial sheriff in the prison at Calapan
for having run away from the reservation.
Issue:
Whether Section 2145 of the Administrative Code deprives a person of his liberty of abode
and is therefore unconstitutional
Held:
No. Section 2145 of the Administrative Code does not deprive a person of his
liberty without due process of law and does not deny to him the equal protection of the laws,
and that confinement in reservations in accordance with said section does not constitute
slavery and involuntary servitude. The court further ruled that section 2145 of the
Administrative Code is a legitimate exertion of the police power and thus constitutional.
Petitioners are not unlawfully imprisoned or restrained of their liberty. Habeas
corpus can, therefore, not issue.
One cannot hold that the liberty of the citizen is unduly interfered with when the
degree of civilization of the. Manguianes is considered. They are restrained for their own
good and the general good of the Philippines. Nor can one say that due process of law has
not been followed. To go back to our definition of due process of law and equal protection of
the laws, thereexists a law; the law seems to be reasonable; it is enforced
according tothe regular methods of procedure prescribed; and it applies alike to all of
aclass.
The public policy of the Government of the Philippine Islands is shapedwith a view to benefit
the Filipino people as a whole. The Manguianes, inorder to fulfill this governmental policy,
must be confined for a time, as wehave said, for their own good and the good of the country.