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Epimaco A. Velasco Vs. Court Of Appeals, Et Al.

DIRECTOR EPIMACO A. VELASCO, as Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), NATIONAL BUREAU OPERATIONS GROUP (SOG), SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS III FLOR L. RESURRECCION and ANTONIO M. ERUM, JR., and THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioners, vs. COURT OF APPEALS, FELICIANO S. CUYAG, for and in behalf of LAWRENCE A. LARKINS, respondents.

G.R. No. 118644 | 1995-07-07

D E C I S I O N


DAVIDE, JR., J.:

The high prerogative writ of habeas corpus, whose origin is lost in antiquity, 1 was devised and exists as a speedy and effectual remedy to relieve persons from unlawful restraint and as the best and only sufficient defense of personal freedom. 2 More specially, its vital purposes are to obtain immediate relief from illegal confinement, to liberate those who may be imprisoned without sufficient cause, and to deliver them from unlawful custody. It is then essentially a writ of inquiry and is granted to test the right under which a person is detained. 3

Under our Constitution, the privilege of the writ of...