Constitutional Law: Article III, Section 18 Summary (De Leon)
SEC. 18.
(1) No person shall be detained solely by reason of his political beliefs and aspirations.
(2) No involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Right against detention solely by reason of political beliefs and aspirations.
Upon the declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972 under Proclamation No. 1081 of the then incumbent President, the military establishment carried out a nationwide arrest and detention of known political opponents and critics of the administration.
Thousands of people were arrested during the whole period of martial rule. Many remained in incarceration for years without charges filed against them. They came to be known as "political prisoners" or "political detainees." Some were forced into exile.
Even after the lifting of martial law by Proclamation No. 2054 on January 17, 1981 up to the February 22-25, 1986 so-called "people power revolution, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus remained suspended for the crimes of insurrection, rebellion, subversion,
conspiracy or proposal to commit such crimes and for all other crimes and offenses committed x x x in connection therewith."
Many more were arrested and detained after the lifting of martial law, for denouncing, among others, the authoritarian rule of the President, human rights violations by the government, graft and corruption, etc., for espousing allegedly subversive doctrines, or for participating in protest movements and demonstrations, or on mere suspicion of being subversives or communist sympathizers,
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