6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Department shall have the following powers and functions: (1) Act as principal law agency of the government and as legal counsel and representative thereof, whenever so required; (2) Investigate the commission of crimes, prosecute offenders and administer the probation and correction system; xxxx (6) Provide immigration and naturalization regulatory services and implement the laws governing citizenship and the admission and stay of aliens; (7) Provide legal services to the national government and its functionaries, including government-owned and controlled corporations and their subsidiaries; (8) Such other functions as may be provided by law. (Emphasis supplied) A plain reading of the foregoing provisions shows that they are mere general provisions designed to lay down the purposes of the enactment and the broad enumeration of the powers and functions of the DOJ. In no way can they be interpreted as a grant of power to curtail a fundamental right as the language of the provision itself does not lend to that stretched construction. To be specific, Section 1 is simply a declaration of policy, the essence of the law, which provides for the statement of the guiding principle, the purpose and the necessity for the enactment. The declaration of policy is most useful in statutory construction as an aid in the interpretation of the meaning of the substantive provisions of the law. It is preliminary to the substantive portions of the law and certainly not the part in which the more significant and particular mandates are contained. The suggestion of the former DOJ Secretary that the basis of the issuance of DOJ Circular No. 41 is contained in the declaration of policy of E.O. No. 292 not only defeats logic but also the basic style of drafting a decent piece of legislation because it supposes that the authors of the law included the operative and substantive provisions in the declaration of policy when its objective is merely to introduce and highlight the purpose of the law. Succinctly, "a declaration of policy contained in a statute is, like a preamble, not a part of the substantive portions of the act. Such provisions are available for clarification of ambiguous substantive portions of the act, but may not be used to create ambiguity in other substantive provisions."[93] In the same way, Section 3 does not authorize the DOJ to issue WLOs and HDOs to restrict the constitutional right to travel. There is even no mention of the exigencies stated in the Constitution that will justify the impairment. The provision simply grants the DOJ the power to investigate the commission of crimes and prosecute offenders, which are basically the functions of the agency. However, it does not carry with it the power to indiscriminately devise all means it deems proper in performing its functions without regard to constitutionally-protected rights. The curtailment of a fundamental right, which is what DOJ Circular No. 41 does, cannot be read into the mentioned provision of the law. Any impairment or restriction in the exercise of a constitutional right must be clear, categorical and unambiguous. For the rule is that: elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/64165 18/70