CA denies Alice Guo’s habeas corpus writ appeal

The Court of Appeals (CA) has denied a motion for reconsideration filed by former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Leal Guo, upholding its dismissal of her petition for a writ of habeas corpus as she remains serving a prison sentence under a trial court conviction for qualified human trafficking.

In a resolution promulgated 5 October, the appellate court’s former First Division ruled that Guo failed to present new compelling arguments to reverse its 29 June decision dismissing her petition and supplemental petition for lack of merit.

Guo’s legal team argued that the court overlooked her challenge to the Bureau of Immigration’s assertion of administrative custody under an earlier mission order, contending that underlying deportation proceedings stemmed from unlawful arrest and constitutional flaws.

However, the court noted that Guo has been incarcerated at the Correctional Institution for Women since 5 December 2025, following a 27 November 2025 mittimus issued by a regional trial court pursuant to its joint decision in the human trafficking case.

Guo filed the habeas corpus petition on 30 March 2026 — more than three months after her commitment to the correctional facility.

Writing for the division, Associate Justice Emily L. San Gaspar-Gito stressed that habeas corpus cannot be invoked to challenge detention resulting from a lawful judgment rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction.

“The writ of habeas corpus is a saber sharp enough to cut down any unlawful deprivation of liberty,” the court stated, cautioning that the extraordinary remedy cannot be misused to attack lawful confinement where trial court jurisdiction remains unchallenged.