G.R. No. L-20645 September 22, 1966
GO TIAN CHAI, petitioner-appellee, vs. THE COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION, and the OVERSEER, Detention Station of the Bureau of Immigration, respondents-appellants.

FACTS

Petitioner Go Tian Chai, a Chinese national, was admitted as a temporary visitor on April 23, 1947. After overstaying despite visa extensions, he was arrested on March 1, 1950. During deportation proceedings, he was temporarily released on bail. On February 19, 1951, the Board of Commissioners unanimously found him to have unlawfully overstayed and ordered his deportation. A deportation warrant was issued on March 8, 1951, but he was only arrested and taken into custody on October 8, 1962. While detained pending deportation to Formosa (Taiwan), he filed a petition for habeas corpus on November 26, 1962, alleging that efforts for his admission to Taiwan were futile and deportation was unlikely in the near future. He prayed for temporary liberty on bail, citing the Borovsky case. The Court of First Instance of Manila, on December 8, 1962, denied the petition but ordered that if the Commissioner could not deport him within six months, he must be released on bail. The Commissioner appealed solely from that portion of the decision ordering release on bail.

ISSUE

Whether a Chinese national subject to a final deportation order may be ordered released on bail by a court if deportation cannot be effected within a specified period, pending negotiations between the Philippine government and the Republic of China for the readmission of overstaying Chinese nationals.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court annulled and set aside the portion of the lower court’s decision ordering release on bail. The dismissal of the habeas corpus petition was affirmed.
1. The detention of unlawfully overstaying Chinese nationals pending deportation is lawful and not unjust, as held in Tan Seng Pao v. Commissioner of Immigration. Delay in deportation due to ongoing diplomatic negotiations is not the fault of the Philippine government and does not render the deportation order functus officio.
2. Aliens in deportation proceedings have no inherent right to bail. Under Section 37(e) of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 ( Commonwealth Act No. 613 , as amended), the Commissioner of Immigration has discretionary power (“may”) to release an alien under arrest on bond or other conditions. This power is permissive, not mandatory, and its exercise is wholly within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commissioner, not the courts. Courts do not administer immigration laws.
3. The lower court erred in ordering release on bail after six months. The determination of the propriety and conditions of temporary release in deportation cases falls within the exclusive discretion of the Commissioner of Immigration.