IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS OF POTENCIANO

ILUSORIO, ERLINDA K. ILUSORIO vs. ERLINDA K. ILUSORIO-BILDNER, SYLVIA

K. ILUSORIO-YAP, JOHN DOES and JANE DOES
G.R. No. 139808 July 19, 2001
DOCTRINE: A writ of habeas corpus extends to all cases of illegal confinement or detention, or
by which the rightful custody of a person is withheld from the one entitled thereto.
FACTS: Erlinda Kalaw Ilusorio is the wife of lawyer Potenciano Ilusorio. The latter is about 86
years of age possessed of extensive property valued at millions of pesos. The two lived together
for a period of 30 years. Out of their marriage, the spouses had 6 children. In 1972, they separated
from bed and board for undisclosed reasons.In 1997, upon Potencianos arrival from the United
States, he stayed with Erlinda for about 5 months in Antipolo. The children, Sylvia and Erlinda,
alleged that during this time, their mother gave Potenciano an overdose of an antidepressant drug
prescribed by his doctor. As a consequence, Potencianos health deteriorated.
Erlinda filed with the RTC a petition for guardianship over the person and property of Potenciano
Ilusorio due to the latters advanced age, frail health, poor eyesight and impaired judgment.
On May 31, 1998, after attending a corporate meeting, Potenciano Il did not return to Antipolo
City and instead lived at a condominium in Makati.
Erlinda filed with the Court of Appeals a petition for habeas corpus to have the custody of
Potenciano . She alleged that respondents refused petitioners demands to see and visit her
husband and prohibited Potenciano from returning to Antipolo City.

ISSUE: Won a wife may secure a writ of habeas corpus to compel her husband to live with her in
conjugal bliss
HELD: No.
A writ of habeas corpus extends to all cases of illegal confinement or detention, or by which the
rightful custody of a person is withheld from the one entitled thereto. It is available where a
person continues to be unlawfully denied of one or more of his constitutional freedoms, where
there is denial of due process, where the restraints are not merely involuntary but are unnecessary,

and where a deprivation of freedom originally valid has later become arbitrary. It is devised as a
speedy and effectual remedy to relieve persons from unlawful restraint, as the best and only
sufficient defense of personal freedom. The essential object and purpose of the writ of habeas
corpus is to inquire into all manner of involuntary restraint, and to relieve a person therefrom if
such restraint is illegal. To justify the grant of the petition, the restraint of liberty must be an
illegal and involuntary deprivation of freedom of action. The illegal restraint of liberty must be
actual and effective, not merely nominal or moral.
The evidence shows that there was no actual and effective detention or deprivation of lawyer
Potenciano Ilusorios liberty that would justify the issuance of the writ. The fact that lawyer
Potenciano Ilusorio is about 86 years of age, or under medication does not necessarily render him
mentally incapacitated. Soundness of mind does not hinge on age or medical condition but on the
capacity of the individual to discern his actions.