. [G.R. No. 122338. December 29, 1995.] In this original petition for habeas corpus, the wife and children of convicted felon Wilfredo Sumulong Torres pray for his immediate release from prison on the ground that the exercise of the President's prerogative under Section 64 (i) of the Revised Administrative Code to determine the occurrence, if any, of a breach of a condition of a pardon in violation of pardonee's right to due process and the constitutional presumption of innocence, constitutes a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.

Of two counts of estafa Torres was convicted by the Court of First Instance of Manila some time before 1979. These convictions were affirmed by the Court of Appeals. The maximum sentence would expire on November 2, 2000. On April 18, 1979, a conditional pardon was granted to Torres by the President of the Philippines on condition that petitioner would "not again violate any of the penal laws of the Philippines." 5 Petitioner accepted the conditional pardon and was consequently released from confinement. 6

On May 21, 1986, the Board of Pardons and Parole resolved to recommend to the President the cancellation of the conditional pardon granted to Torres because Torres had been charged with twenty counts of estafa before, and convicted of sedition by, the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City. On September 8, 1986, the President canceled the conditional pardon of Torres. On October 10, 1986, then Secretary of Justice Neptali A. Gonzales issued "by authority of the President" an Order of Arrest and Recommitment against petitioner. The petitioner was accordingly arrested and confined in Muntiniupa to serve the unexpired portion of his sentence. Torres impugned the validity of the Order of Arrest and Recommitment thru a petition for habeas corpus before the Supreme Court, alleging that the Secretary of Justice and the President gravely abused their discretion in ordering his arrest without due notice and hearing.

Question: Is the contention of Wilfredo Sumulong Torres correct? Explain your answer.