Why Turning South Drive into a Hamlet is UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Pre-Semester Non-classroom Lecture 40
This is for my law students preparing for the Bar (but, of course, since it’s a public post all are welcome to read it)
A WARRANT—whether it be to effect an ARREST or a SEARCH—must specifically indicate the name of the person to be arrested, the places to be searched and the items to be seized. This is to prevent abuse.
A WRIT—whether for execution or possession—must specify the particular act that the sheriff or other deputized executing officer is authorized to perform. And the writ must always be accompanied by a copy of the final Judgment, Decision or Order on which it is based. This is to prevent abuse.
QUESTION: Here is a mere piece of paper containing an internal office memorandum that DESCRIBES NO ACTION IN PARTICULAR but simply orders police to “maintain peace and order”; based on it, the police break open a private premises with hammers, levers, bolt-cutters, then proceed to seize computers, disable CCTV’s, force open lockers, office drawers, hack computer security passwords, commandeer company vehicles, freeze bank accounts, collect money from the public, deploy strangers to perform office functions belonging to employees forced to evacuate from their work stations, replace official BIR-authorized receipts with unregistered home-made receipts, set up road checkpoints restricting public traffic, convert South Drive into a military hamlet, and carry out all of these actions not just in one location but everywhere that private company has branches and in general to do anything under the sun “as the officer deems fit and necessary”—what do you call the totality of these unlimited actions?
ANSWER: It’s called a “ROVING COMMISSION” and it is unconstitutional.
BONUS QUESTION: Who inspired the concept of a roving commission? Attila The Hun.
The author is a writer and lawyer based in Baguio City, Philippines. Former editor of the Gold Ore and Baguio City Digest, professor of journalism, political science and law at Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF). He is a photographer and video documentarist. He has a YouTube channel called “Parables and Reason”