G.R. No. L-10972; January 28, 1916
LEE CHING, petitioner-appellant, vs. THE INSULAR COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, respondent-appellee.

FACTS:
Lee Ching, a Chinese alien, was apprehended and charged with unlawfully entering the Philippine Islands. A board of special inquiry found that he was a Chinese laborer who entered surreptitiously via Zamboanga on a Moro vinta without examination by immigration authorities. The board ordered his deportation to China, a decision affirmed by the Insular Collector of Customs. Lee Ching then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Court of First Instance of Manila, challenging his detention. The court, while finding the detention legal, modified the deportation order and directed that Lee Ching be deported to Sandakan, North Borneo, at government expense. Lee Ching appealed, arguing that in a habeas corpus proceeding, the court’s role is limited to determining the legality of detention and ordering release or remand, not to substituting its own judgment on the merits or the specifics of deportation.

ISSUE:
Whether the Court of First Instance, in a habeas corpus proceeding, exceeded its authority by modifying the deportation order of the Insular Collector of Customs and ordering deportation to a specific destination.

RULING:
Yes, the Court of First Instance exceeded its authority. The Supreme Court held that the sole function of a court in a habeas corpus proceeding is to determine the legality or illegality of the petitioner’s detention. The court must either order the petitioner’s release if the detention is illegal or dismiss the petition and remand the petitioner to custody if the detention is legal. The court has no power to decide the merits of the underlying case or to issue its own order regarding the manner or destination of deportation. That power rests exclusively with the executive authorities (here, the customs officials). Consequently, that portion of the lower court’s judgment ordering deportation to Sandakan was void.

On the substantive issue, the Supreme Court further ruled that the Insular Collector of Customs correctly ordered deportation to China. The evidence showed Lee Ching was born in China, worked as a farmer there, and used Sandakan merely as an intermediate point to facilitate his surreptitious entry into the Philippines. Under the applicable immigration statutes and jurisprudence, when an alien uses a foreign contiguous territory (like Sandakan) not as a bona fide place of residence but as a conduit to illegally enter the destination country, the proper place of deportation is the alien’s country of origin. Therefore, the detention for the purpose of deportation to China was legal.

DISPOSITIVE PORTION:
The judgment of the Court of First Instance was modified. The proceedings for the writ of habeas corpus were ordered dismissed, and Lee Ching was remanded to the custody of the Insular Collector of Customs for deportation in accordance with the original order. No costs were awarded.