Proclamation No. 2
Proclaiming the Lifting of the Suspension of the Privilege
of the Writ of Habeas Corpus Throughout the Philippines
March 2, 1986
WHEREAS, the then President Ferdinand E. Marcos, issuing Proclamation No. 2045 dated 17 January 1981 and Proclamation No. 2045-A dated 23 July 1983, suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the two autonomous regions of Mindanao and in all other places with respect to persons detained “for all cases involving the crimes of insurrection, rebellion, subversion, conspiracy or proposal to commit such crimes, sedition, conspiracy to commit sedition, inciting to sedition, and for all other crimes or offenses committed by them in furtherance or on the occasion thereof, or incident thereto, or in connection therewith, such as but not limited to offenses involving economic sabotage, illegal assemblies, illegal associations, tumults and other disturbances of public orders, unlawful fuse of means of publication and unlawful utterances, and alarms and scandals, or with respect to any person whose arrest or detention was, in the judgment of the President, required by public safety as a means to repel or quell the rebellion in the country;
WHEREAS, the proclamations and decrees mentioned and all the related decrees, instructions, orders and rules were not warranted by the requirements of public safety since the existing rebellion could have been contained by government sincerity at reforms, by peaceful negotiations and reconciliation, and by steadfast devotion to the rule of law;
WHEREAS, instead of serving its purpose of suppressing the rebellion and other threats to national security, the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus drove many to the hills and fanned the conspiracy to overthrow the government by violence and force; and
WHEREAS, the Filipino people have established a new government bound to the ideals of genuine liberty and freedom for all.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution and the Filipino people, do hereby revoke Proclamations No. 2045 and 2045-A, and do hereby lift the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus so that this guardian of liberty and freedom may be available to all.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed to this proclamation.
DONE in the City of Manila, this 2nd day of March, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Six.
