Republic of the Philippines MAXIMO V. SOLIVEN, NAPOLEON G.
RAMA, AND JOSE MARI
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. L-35546 September 17, 1974
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS OF
BENIGNO S. AQUINO, JR., RAMON MITRA, JR., FRANCISCO RODRIGO,
AND NAPOLEON RAMA, petitioners,
vs.
HON JUAN PONCE ENRILE, SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE;
GEN. ROMEO ESPINO, CHIEF OF STAFF, ARMED FORCES OF THE
PHILIPPINES; AND GEN. FIDEL V. RAMOS, CHIEF, PHILIPPINE
CONSTABULARY, respondents.
G.R. No. L-35538 September 17, 1974
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS OF
JOAQUIN P. ROCES, TEODORO M. LOCSIN, SR., ROLANDO FADUL,
ROSALINA GALANG, GO ENG GUAN, MAXIMO V. SOLIVEN, RENATO
CONSTANTINO, AND LUIS R. MAURICIO, petitioners,
vs.
THE SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE; THE CHIEF OF STAFF,
ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES; THE CHIEF, PHILIPPINE
CONSTABULARY, et al., respondents.
G.R. No. L-35539 September 17, 1974
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS OF JOSE W.
DIOKNO, CARMEN I. DIOKNO, *1 petitioner,
vs.
JUAN PONCE ENRILE, THE SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE;
ROMEO ESPINO, THE CHIEF OF STAFF, ARMED FORCES OF THE
PHILIPPINES. respondents.
G.R. No. L-35540 September 17, 1974
VELEZ, petitioners,
vs.
HON. JUAN PONCE ENRILE, SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE;
HON. FRANCISCO TATAD, PRESS SECRETARY; AND GEN. FIDEL V.
RAMOS, CHIEF, PHILIPPINE CONSTABULARY, respondents.
G.R. No. L-35547 September 17, 1974 *2
ENRIQUE VOLTAIRE GARCIA II, petitioner,
vs.
BRIG. GEN. FIDEL RAMOS, CHIEF, PHILIPPINE CONSTABULARY; GEN.
ROMEO ESPINO, CHIEF OF STAFF, ARMED FORCES OF THE
PHILIPPINES; AND HON. JUAN PONCE ENRILE, SECRETARY OF
NATIONAL DEFENSE, respondents.
G.R. No. L-35556 September 17, 1974
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS OF
VERONICA L. YUYITUNG AND TAN CHIN HIAN, petitioners,
vs.
JUAN PONCE ENRILE, SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE; LIEUT.
GEN. ROMEO ESPINO, CHIEF OF STAFF, ARMED FORCES OF THE
PHILIPPINES; AND BRIG. GEN. FIDEL V. RAMOS, CHIEF OF THE
PHILIPPINE CONSTABULARY, respondents.
G.R. No. L-35567 September 17, 1974
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS OF AMANDO
DORONILA JUAN L. MERCADO, HERNANDO L. ABAYA, ERNESTO
GRANADA, LUIS D. BELTRAN, TAN CHIN HIAN, BREN GUIAO, RUBEN
CUSIPAG, ROBERTO ORDOÑEZ, MANUEL ALMARIO AND WILLIE
BAUN, petitioners,
vs.
HON. JUAN PONCE ENRILE, SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE;
LIEUT. GEN. ROMEO ESPINO, CHIEF OF STAFF, ARMED FORCES OF
THE PHILIPPINES; AND BRIG. GEN. FIDEL V. RAMOS, CHIEF,
PHILIPPINE CONSTABULARY, respondents.
G.R. No. L-35571 September 17, 1974. *3
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS OF BREN Z.
GUIAO, TERESITA M. GUIAO, petitioner,
vs.
JUAN PONCE ENRILE, THE SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE; LT.
GEN. ROMEO ESPINO, CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF
THE PHILIPPINES: AND BRIG. GEN. FIDEL V. RAMOS, CHIEF OF THE
PHILIPPINE CONSTABULARY, respondents.
G.R. No. L-35573 September 17, 1974
ERNESTO RONDON, petitioner,
vs.
HON. JUAN PONCE ENRILE, SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE;
GEN. FIDEL V. RAMOS, CHIEF, PHILIPPINE CONSTABULARY; AND
MAJOR RODULFO MIANA, respondents.
Constitutional law; Factual bases for the proclamation of martial law a matter
of contemporary history within the cognizance of the courts; No necessity to
receive evidence showing that a state of rebellion existed in the country when
Proclamation No. 1081 was issued.—Without need of receiving evidence as in
an ordinary adversary court proceeding, a state of rebellion existed in the
country when Proclamation No. 1081 was issued. It was a matter of
contemporary history within the cognizance not only of the courts but of all
observant people residing in the country at the time. Many of the facts and
events recited in detail in the different “Whereases” of the proclamation are of
common knowledge.
Same; Same; State of rebellion continues up to the present.— The argument
that while armed hostilities go on in several provinces in Mindanao there are
none in other regions except in isolated pockets in Luzon, and that therefore
there is no need to maintain martial law all over the country, ignores the
sophisticated nature and ramifications of rebellion in a modern setting. It does
not consist simply of armed clashes between organized and identifiable groups
on fields of their own choosing. It includes subversion of the most subtle kind,
necessarily clandestine and operating precisely where there is no actual
fighting.
Same; Question us to whether or not the Court can inquire into the factual
bases for the proclamation of martial law has become moot and purposeless
as a consequence of the general referendum of July 27-28, 1973.—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
purposeless as a consequence of the general referendum of July 27-28, 1973.
The question propounded to the voters was: “Under the (1973) Constitution,
the President, if he so desires, can continue in office beyond 1973. Do you want
President Marcos to continue beyond 1973 and finish the reforms he initiated
under Martial Law?” The overwhelming majority of those who cast their ballots,
including citizens between 15 and 18 years, voted affirmatively on the proposal.
The question was thereby removed from the area of presidential power under
the Constitution and transferred to the seat of sovereignty itself. Whatever may
be the nature of the exercise of that power by the President in the beginning—
whether or not purely political and therefore nonjusticiable— this Court is
precluded from applying its judicial yardstick to the act of the sovereign.
Same; Question as to the validity of Proclamation No. 1081 has been
foreclosed by the transitory provision of the 1973 Constitution.—The question
of the validity of Proclamation No. 1081 has been foreclosed by the transitory
provision of the 1973 Constitution [Art. XVII, Sec. 3(2)] that “all proclamations,
orders, decrees, instructions, and acts promulgated, issued, or done by the
incumbent President shall be part of the law of the land and shall remain valid,
legal, binding and effective even after . . . the ratification of this Constitution. . .
.” To be sure, there is an attempt in these cases to resuscitate the issue of the
effectivity of the new Constitution. All that, however, is behind us now. The
question has been laid to rest by our decision in Javellana vs. Executive
Secretary (L-36142, 50 SCRA 30, March 31, 1973), and of course by the
existing political realities both in the conduct of national affairs and in our
relations with other countries.
Same: Proclamation of martial lair automatically suspends the privilege of the
writ of habeas corpus.—Implicit in a state of martial law is the suspension of
the said privilege with respect to persons arrested or detained for acts related
to the basic objectives 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 take precedence.
Same; Withdrawal of petition for habeas corpus; Grounds for allowance; Case
at bar.—Diokno’s motion to withdraw his petition should be granted. In the first
place such withdrawal would not emasculate the decisive and fundamental
issues of public interest that demanded to be resolved, for they were also raised
in the other cases which still remained pending. Secondly, since it was the
petitioner’s liberty that was at the stake, he had the right to renounce the
application for habeas corpus he initiated. Even if that right were not absolute,
his choice to remove the case from this Court’s cognizance should be
respected.
MAKALINTAL, C.J.:p
These cases are all petitions for habeas corpus, the petitioners having been
arrested and detained by the military by virtue of the President's Proclamation
No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972.
At the outset a word of clarification is in order. This is not the decision of the
Court in the sense that a decision represents a consensus of the required
majority of its members not only on the judgment itself but also on the
rationalization of the issues and the conclusions arrived at. On the final result
the vote is practically unanimous; this is a statement of my individual opinion
as well as a summary of the voting on the major issues. Why no particular
Justice has been designated to write just one opinion for the entire Court will
presently be explained.
At one point during our deliberations on these cases it was suggested that as
Chief Justice I should write that opinion. The impracticability of the suggestion
shortly became apparent for a number of reasons, only two of which need be
mentioned. First, the discussions, as they began to touch on particular issues,
revealed a lack of agreement among the Justices as to whether some of those
issues should be taken up although it was not necessary to do so, they being
merely convenient for the purpose of ventilating vexing questions of public
interest, or whether the decision should be limited to those issues which are
really material and decisive in these cases. Similarly, there was no agreement
as to the manner the issues should be treated and developed. The same
destination would be reached, so to speak, but through different routes and by
means of different vehicles of approach. The writing of separate opinions by
individual Justices was thus unavoidable, and understandably so for still
another reason, namely, that although little overt reference to it was made at
the time, the future verdict of history was very much a factor in the thinking of
the members, no other case of such transcendental significance to the life of
the nation having before confronted this Court. Second — and this to me was
the insuperable obstacle — I was and am of the opinion, which was shared by
six other Justices1 at the time the question was voted upon, that petitioner Jose
W. Diokno's motion of December 28, 1973 to withdraw his petition (G.R. No. L-
35539) should be granted, and therefore I was in no position to set down the
ruling of the Court on each of the arguments raised by him, except indirectly,
insofar as they had been raised likewise in the other cases.
It should be explained at this point that when the Court voted on Diokno's
motion to withdraw his petition he was still under detention without charges,
and continued to remain so up to the time the separate opinions of the individual
Justices were put in final form preparatory to their promulgation on September
12, which was the last day of Justice Zaldivars tenure in the Court.2 Before they
could be promulgated, however, a major development supervened: petitioner
Diokno was released by the President in the morning of September 11, 1974.
In view thereof all the members of this Court except Justice Castro agreed to
dismiss Diokno's petition on the ground that it had become moot, with those
who originally voted to grant the motion for withdrawal citing said motion as an
additional ground for such dismissal.
The petitioners in the other cases, except Benigno Aquino, Jr. (G.R. No. L-
35546), either have been permitted to withdraw their petitions or have been
released from detention subject to certain restrictions.3 In the case of Aquino,
formal charges of murder, subversion and illegal possession of firearms were
lodged against him with a Military Commission on August 11, 1973; and on the
following August 23 he challenged the jurisdiction of said Commission as well
as his continued detention by virtue of those charges in a petition
for certiorari and prohibition filed in this Court (G.R. No.
L-37364). The question came up as to whether or not Aquino's petition
for habeas corpus should be dismissed on the ground that the case as to him
should more appropriately be resolved in this new petition. Of the twelve
Justices, however, eight voted against such dismissal and chose to consider
the case on the merits.4
On Diokno's motion to withdraw his petition I voted in favor of granting it for two
reasons. In the first place such withdrawal would not emasculate the decisive
and fundamental issues of public interest that demanded to be resolved, for
they were also raised in the other cases which still remained pending.
Secondly, since it was this petitioner's personal liberty that was at stake, I
believed he had the right to renounce the application for habeas corpus he
initiated. Even if that right were not absolute I still would respect his choice to
remove the case from this Court's cognizance, regardless of the fact that I
disagreed with many of his reasons for so doing. I could not escape a sense of
irony in this Court's turning down the plea to withdraw on the ground, so he
alleges among others, that this is no longer the Court to which he originally
applied for relief because its members have taken new oaths of office under
the 1973 Constitution, and then ruling adversely to him on the merits of his
petition.
It is true that some of the statements in the motion are an affront to the dignity
of this Court and therefore should not be allowed to pass unanswered. Any
answer, however, would not be foreclosed by allowing the withdrawal. For my
part, since most of those statements are of a subjective character, being
matters of personal belief and opinion, I see no point in refuting them in these
cases. Indeed my impression is that they were beamed less at this Court than
at the world outside and designed to make political capital of his personal
situation, as the publicity given to them by some segments of the foreign press
and by local underground propaganda news sheets subsequently confirmed. It
was in fact from that perspective that I deemed it proper to respond in kind, that
is, from a non-judicial forum, in an address I delivered on February 19, 1974
before the LAWASIA, the Philippine Bar Association and the Philippine
Lawyers' Association. Justice Teehankee, it may be stated, is of the opinion
that a simple majority of seven votes out of twelve is legally sufficient to make
the withdrawal of Diokno's petition effective, on the theory that the requirement
of a majority of eight votes applies only to a decision on the merits.
In any event, as it turned out, after petitioner Diokno was released by the
President on September 11 all the members of this Court except Justice Castro
were agreed that his petition had become moot and therefore should no longer
be considered on the merits. This notwithstanding, some of the opinions of the
individual members, particularly Justices Castro and Teehankee, should be
taken in the time setting in which they were prepared, that is, before the order
for the release of Diokno was issued.
The Cases.
The events which form the background of these nine petitions are related,
either briefly or in great detail, in the separate opinions filed by the individual
Justices. The petitioners were arrested and held pursuant to General Order No.
2 of the President (September 22, 1972), "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 powers
he assumed by virtue of Proclamation No. 1081 (September 21, 1972) placing
the entire country under martial law. The portions of the proclamation
immediately in point read as follows:
xxx xxx xxx
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of
the Philippines by virtue of the powers vested upon me by Article
VII, Section 10, Paragraph (2) of the Constitution, do hereby
place the entire Philippines as defined in Article I, Section 1 of the
Constitution under martial law and, in my capacity as their
Commander-in-Chief, do hereby command the Armed Forces of
the Philippines, to maintain law and order throughout the
Philippines, prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as
well as any act of insurrection or rebellion and to enforce
obedience to all the laws and decrees, orders and regulations
promulgated by me personally or upon my direction.
In addition, I do hereby order that all persons presently detained,
as well as all others who may hereafter be similarly detained for
the crimes of insurrection or rebellion, and all other crimes and
offenses committed in furtherance or on the occasion thereof, or
incident thereto, or in connection therewith, for crimes against
national security and the law of nations, crimes against public
order, crimes involving usurpation of authority, rank, title and
improper use of names, uniforms and insignia, crimes committed
by public officers, and for such other crimes as will be
enumerated in orders that I shall subsequently promulgate, as
well as crimes as a consequence of any violation of any decree,
order or regulation promulgated by me personally or promulgated
 upon my direction shall be kept under detention until otherwise
ordered released by me or by my duly designated representative.
The provision of the 1935 Constitution referred to in the proclamation reads:
"the President shall be commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the
Philippines and, whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed
forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion, insurrection, or
rebellion. In case of invasion, insurrection, or rebellion, or imminent danger
thereof, when the public safety requires it, he may suspend the privilege of the
writ of habeas corpus, or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial
law."
1. The first major issue raised by the parties is whether this Court may inquire
into the validity of Proclamation No. 1081. Stated more concretely, is the
existence of conditions claimed to justify the exercise of the power to declare
martial law subject to judicial inquiry? Is the question political or justiciable in
character?
Justices Makasiar, Antonio, Esguerra, Fernandez and Aquino hold that the
question is political and therefore its determination is beyond the jurisdiction of
this Court. The reasons are given at length in the separate opinions they have
respectively signed. Justice Fernandez adds that as a member of the
Convention that drafted the 1973 Constitution he believes that "the Convention
put an imprimatur on the proposition that the validity of a martial law
proclamation and its continuation is political and non-justiciable in character."
Justice Barredo, on the other hand, believes that political questions are not per
se beyond the Court's jurisdiction, the judicial power vested in it by the
Constitution being plenary and all-embracing, but that as a matter of policy
implicit in the Constitution itself the Court should abstain from interfering with
the Executive's Proclamation, dealing as it does with national security, for
which the responsibility is vested by the charter in him alone. But the Court
should act, Justice Barredo opines, when its abstention from acting would result
in manifest and palpable transgression of the Constitution proven by facts of
judicial notice, no reception of evidence being contemplated for purposes of
such judicial action.
It may be noted that the postulate of non-justiciability as discussed in those
opinions involves disparate methods of approach. Justice Esguerra maintains
that the findings of the President on the existence of the grounds for the
declaration of martial law are final and conclusive upon the Courts. He
disagrees vehemently with the ruling in Lansang vs. Garcia, 42 SCRA 448,
December 11, 1971, and advocates a return to Barcelon vs. Baker, 5 Phil. 87
(1905), and Montenegro vs. Castañeda, 91 Phil. 882 (1952). Justice Barredo,
for his part, holds that Lansang need not be overturned, indeed does not control
in these cases. He draws a distinction between the power of the President to
suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, which was the issue in
Lansang, and his power to proclaim martial law, calling attention to the fact that
while the Bill of Rights prohibits suspension of the privilege except in the
instances specified therein, it places no such prohibition or qualification with
respect to the declaration of martial law.
Justice Antonio, with whom Justices Makasiar, Fernandez and Aquino concur,
finds that there is no dispute as to the existence of a state of rebellion in the
country, and on that premise emphasizes the factor of necessity for the
exercise by the President of his power under the Constitution to declare martial
law, holding that the decision as to whether or not there is
such necessity is wholly confided to him and therefore is not subject to judicial
inquiry, his responsibility being directly to the people.
Arrayed on the side of justiciability are Justices Castro, Fernando, Teehankee
and Muñoz Palma. They hold that the constitutional sufficiency of the
proclamation may be inquired into by the Court, and would thus apply the
principle laid down in Lansang although that case refers to the power of the
President to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. The recognition
of justiciability accorded to the question in Lansang, it should be emphasized,
is there expressly distinguished from the power of judicial review in ordinary
civil or criminal cases, and is limited to ascertaining "merely whether he (the
President) has gone beyond the constitutional limits of his jurisdiction, not to
exercise the power vested in him or to determine the wisdom of his act." The
test is not whether the President's decision is correct but whether, in
suspending the writ, he did or did not act arbitrarily. Applying this test, the
finding by the Justices just mentioned is that there was no arbitrariness in the
President's proclamation of martial law pursuant to the 1935 Constitution; and
I concur with them in that finding. The factual bases for the suspension of the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, particularly in regard to the existence of
a state of rebellion in the country, had not disappeared, indeed had been
exacerbated, as events shortly before said proclamation clearly demonstrated.
On this Point the Court is practically unanimous; Justice Teehankee merely
refrained from discussing it.
Insofar as my own opinion is concerned the cleavage in the Court on the issue
of justiciability is of not much more than academic interest for purposes of
arriving at a judgment. I am not unduly exercised by Americas decisions on the
subject written in another age and political clime, or by theories of foreign
authors in political science. The present state of martial law in the Philippines
is peculiarly Filipino and fits into no traditional patterns or judicial precedents.
In the first place I am convinced (as are the other Justices), without need of
receiving evidence as in an ordinary adversary court proceeding, that a state
of rebellion existed in the country when Proclamation No. 1081 was issued. It
was a matter of contemporary history within the cognizance not only of the
courts but of all observant people residing here at the time. Many of the facts
and events recited in detail in the different "Whereases" of the proclamation are
of common knowledge. The state of rebellion continues up to the present. The
argument that while armed hostilities go on in several provinces in Mindanao
there are none in other regions except in isolated pockets in Luzon, and that
therefore there is no need to maintain martial law all over the country, ignores
the sophisticated nature and ramifications of rebellion in a modern setting. It
does not consist simply of armed clashes between organized and identifiable
groups on fields of their own choosing. It includes subversion of the most subtle
kind, necessarily clandestine and operating precisely where there is no actual
fighting. Underground propaganda, through printed news sheets or rumors
disseminated in whispers; recruitment of armed and ideological adherents,
raising of funds, procurement of arms and material, fifth-column activities
including sabotage and intelligence — all these are part of the rebellion which
by their nature are usually conducted far from the battle fronts. They cannot be
counteracted effectively unless recognized and dealt with in that context.
Secondly, my view, which coincides with that of other members of the Court as
stated in their opinions, is that the question of validity of Proclamation No. 1081
has been foreclosed by the transitory provision of the 1973 Constitution [Art.
XVII, Sec. 3(2)] that "all proclamations, orders, decrees, instructions, and acts
promulgated, issued, or done by the incumbent President shall be part of the
law of the land and shall remain valid, legal, binding and effective even after ...
the ratification of this Constitution ..." To be sure, there is an attempt in these
cases to resuscitate the issue of the effectivity of the new Constitution. All that,
however, is behind us now. The question has been laid to rest by our decision
in Javellana vs. Executive Secretary (L-36142, 50 SCRA 30, March 31, 1973),
and of course by the existing political realities both in the conduct of national
affairs and in our relations with other countries.
On the effect of the transitory provision Justice Muñoz Palma withholds her
assent to any sweeping statement that the same in effect validated, in the
constitutional sense, all "such proclamations, decrees, instructions, and acts
promulgated, issued, or done by the incumbent President." All that she
concedes is that the transitory provision merely gives them "the imprimatur of
a law but not of a constitutional mandate," and as such therefore "are subject
to judicial review when proper under the Constitution.
Finally, the political-or-justiciable question controversy indeed, 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 purposeless
as a consequence of the general referendum of July 27-28, 1973. The question
propounded to the voters was: "Under the (1973) Constitution, the President, if
he so desires, can continue in office beyond 1973. Do you want President
Marcos to continue beyond 1973 and finish the reforms he initiated under
Martial Law?" The overwhelming majority of those who cast their ballots,
including citizens between 15 and 18 years, voted affirmatively on the proposal.
The question was thereby removed from the area of presidential power under
the Constitution and transferred to the seat of sovereignty itself. Whatever may
be the nature of the exercise of that power by the President in the beginning —
whether or not purely political and therefore non-justiciable — this Court is
precluded from applying its judicial yardstick to the act of the sovereign.
2. With respect to the petitioners who have been released from detention but
have not withdrawn their petitions because they are still subject to certain
restrictions,5 the ruling of the Court is that the petitions should be dismissed.
The power to detain persons even without charges for acts related to the
situation which justifies the proclamation of martial law, such as the existence
of a state of rebellion, necessarily implies the power (subject, in the opinion of
the Justices who consider Lansang applicable, to the same test of arbitrariness
laid down therein), to impose upon the released detainees conditions or
restrictions which are germane to and necessary to carry out the purposes of
the proclamation. Justice Fernando, however, "is for easing the restrictions on
the right to travel of petitioner Rodrigo" and others similarly situated and so to
this extent dissents from the ruling of the majority; while Justice Teehankee
believes that those restrictions do not constitute deprivation of physical liberty
within the meaning of the constitutional provision on the privilege of the writ
of habeas corpus.

It need only be added that, to my mind, implicit in a state of martial law is the
suspension of the said privilege 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 take
precedence. On this particular point, that is, that the proclamation of martial law
automatically suspends the privilege of the writ as to the persons referred to,
the Court is practically unanimous. Justice Fernando, however, says that to him
that is still an open question; and Justice Muñoz Palma qualifiedly dissents from
the majority in her separate opinion, but for the reasons she discusses therein
votes for the dismissal of the petitions.

IN VIEW OF ALL THE FOREGOING AND FOR THE REASONS STATED BY

THE MEMBERS OF THE COURT IN THEIR SEPARATE OPINIONS,
JUDGMENT IS HEREBY RENDERED DISMISSING ALL THE PETITIONS,
EXCEPT THOSE WHICH HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY WITHDRAWN BY THE
RESPECTIVE PETITIONERS WITH THE APPROVAL OF THIS COURT, AS
HEREINABOVE MENTIONED. NO COSTS.