Practice question
A new public agency begins operating under a statute. Its director maintains that, because the agency did not exist when the Constitution was ratified, the Bill of Rights cannot constrain its official acts unless Congress repeats those rights in the agency charter. A person directly affected brings a proper challenge to an admitted violation of an applicable constitutional right. Which analysis is sound?
- The agency is exempt until the next constitutional amendment.
- The director’s interpretation controls because the institution is new.
- The agency remains subject to the Constitution; a statute need not repeat the fundamental limits for them to govern.
- Only the agency’s first year of acts is exempt.
- The right binds the agency only if its employees vote to accept it.
Legal references
- 1987 Constitution: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/3/353
- Manila Prince Hotel v. GSIS, G.R. No. 122156, February 3, 1997, main decision: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/34508
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