It involved 68 pupils from the towns of Asturias, Daanbantayan, Pinamungajan, Tuburan and Carcar, all in the province of Cebu, who were Jehovah's Witnesses expelled for refusing to sing the national anthem, salute the flag and recite the patriotic pledge in school as required by law.

Marcelo Bacalso wrote a division memorandum recalling the previous Supreme Court's decision Gerona v. Secretary of Education, rebuking and condemning the pupils and teachers who refused to do so.

Daanbantayan district supervisor Manuel F. Biongcog ordered the expulsion of the students who refused to pledge, stating that those who "opted to follow their religious belief against the Flag Salute Law" were "forfeit[ing] their right to attend public schools.

The parents of the students filed for specific civil actions for mandamus, certiorari and prohibition on October 31, 1990, alleging that the public acted in or without in excess of their jurisdiction and with grave abuse of discretion.

[2] On May 13, 1991, the Solicitor General filed a consolidated comment to the petitioners defending the expulsion orders issued by the public respondents that says: Three questions were presented: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ebralinag and the other expelled students, with the court ruling that "a similar exemption may be accorded to the Jehovah's Witnesses with regard to the observance of the flag ceremony out of respect for their religious beliefs, however 'bizarre' those beliefs may seem to others.

[8] In his concurring opinion, Associate Justice Isagani Cruz said that "..freedom of choice guarantees the liberty of the religious conscience and prohibits any degree of any compulsion or burden, whether direct or indirect, in the practice of one's religion.