The Supreme Court has defined the limits of a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO), ruling that it applies only to offenses with a minimum penalty of six years and one day in prison, or to cases involving foreign nationals regardless of the penalty.
In a decision authored by Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, the High Tribunal emphasized that a PHDO is restricted to the preliminary investigation stage. Once formal criminal charges are filed in court, a standard hold departure order (HDO) becomes the correct legal remedy.
Distribution of the ruling arises from a 2019 transaction where Faustine Feliz Abad bought airline tickets from GHT Travel and Tours (GHT) for the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League in Canada. Payment was made via checks, two of which were postdated and subsequently bounced due to insufficient funds.
GHT owner Johanna Moulic filed a complaint in 2020 against Abad for estafa under the Revised Penal Code and for violating Batas Pambansa Blg. 22 (BP 22) or the Bouncing Checks Law.
While the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office indicted Abad on two counts of BP 22 violations, it dismissed the estafa complaint for lack of evidence. The BP 22 cases were filed before the Metropolitan Trial Court of Manila, while prosecutors successfully secured a PHDO from the Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Abad requested the lifting of the PHDO, but the RTC denied her motion because GHT had appealed the dismissed estafa charge to the Secretary of Justice. Abad then appealed the restriction directly to the Supreme Court.
Ruling in favor of Abad, the High Court held that a pending Department of Justice appeal on a dismissed charge cannot justify restricting a citizen’s constitutionally protected right to travel.
The Court noted that the potential for a future estafa charge provides insufficient legal ground to curtail travel rights, ruling that the absence of a pending court case requires the PHDO to be lifted.
The Court’s ruling concluded:
“Accordingly, the Petition for Review on Certiorari is granted. The Orders, dated March 1, 2021, and March 31, 2021, of Branch 50, Regional Trial Court, Manila, in Spec. Proc. No. R-MNL-20-06070-SP, are reversed. The Precautionary Hold Departure Order issued against Faustine Feliz Abad is lifted.”