FACTS:

The petition filed in this case involves the release of petitioners Lino Brocka, Benjamin Cervantes, Cosme Garcia, and Rodolfo Santos through habeas corpus. The City Fiscal of Quezon City filed charges of "Inciting to Sedition" against them, prompting a supplemental petition to be filed that sought to include the Presiding Judge and stop the prosecution of the criminal cases. The petitioners were arrested on January 28, 1985, following a demonstration held in support of a jeepney strike. Initially, they were charged with Illegal Assembly, but Brocka and the others were later charged with Inciting to Sedition. Despite being granted provisional release, they remained in detention allegedly due to a Preventive Detention Action (PDA) issued against them. The circumstances surrounding the filing of the second offense were called into question by the petitioners. Eventually, on February 14, 1985, the petitioners were provisionally released by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

ISSUES:

1. Whether or not the prosecution of the criminal cases for Inciting to Sedition may lawfully be enjoined.

RULING:

1. The prosecution of the criminal cases for Inciting to Sedition may not be lawfully enjoined. The petition for the permanent injunction against the City Fiscal of Quezon City from investigating the charges of Inciting to Sedition is dismissed. The court held that the prosecution of a criminal offense is the executive's function, and the judiciary does not have the power to interfere with it, except in very limited and exceptional cases.

PRINCIPLES:

• The prosecution of a criminal offense is the executive's function, and the judiciary does not have the power to interfere with it, except in very limited and exceptional cases.