PERSONS - Module 2.docx - PERSONS ATTY DC SEPT 3 2020...

PERSONS ATTY DC SEPT 3, 2020
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 386 - CIVIL CODE OF THE
PHILIPPINEs
CHAPTER 1
Effect and Application of Laws
Article 1. This Act shall be known as the
"Civil Code of the Philippines." (n)
Article 2. Laws shall take effect after
fifteen days following the completion of
their publication in the Official Gazette,
unless it is otherwise provided. This Code
shall take effect one year after such
publication. (1a)
TANADA V TUVERA
Article 2 of the Civil Code (Publication)
Facts:
Invoking the people’s right to be informed on
matters of public concern, as well as the
principle that laws to be valid and enforceable
must be published in the Official Gazette or
otherwise effectively promulgated, petitioners
seek a writ of mandamus to compel
respondent public officials to publish, and/or
cause the publication in the Official Gazette of
various presidential decrees, letters of
instructions, general orders, proclamations,
executive orders, letters of implementation
and administrative orders.
Respondent contend that publication in the
Official Gazette is not a sine qua non
requirement for the effectivity of laws where
the laws themselves provide for their own
effectivity dates. It is thus submitted that
since the presidential issuances in question
contain special provisions as to the date they
are to take effect, publication in the Official
Gazette is not indispensable for their
effectivity. The point stressed is anchored on
Article 2 of the Civil Code.
Issue:
Whether or not publication in the Official
Gazette is an indispensable requirement for
the effectivity of laws.
Held:
Yes. Publication in the Official Gazette is
indispensable.
In a long line of decisions, the Court has ruled
that publication in the Official Gazette is
necessary in those cases where the legislation
itself does not provide for its effectivity date –
for then the date of publication is material for
determining its date of effectivity, which is the
fifteenth day following its publication – but not
when the law itself provides for the date when
it goes into effect. Said Article 2 does not
preclude the requirement of publication in the
Official Gazette, even if the law itself provides
for the date of its effectivity.
Without notice and publication, there would be
no basis for the application of the maxim
“ignorantia legis non excusat.” It would be the
height of injustice to punish or otherwise
burden a citizen for the transgression of a law
of which he had no notice whatsoever, not
even a constructive one. Without publication,
the people have no means of knowing what
presidential decrees have actually been
promulgated, much less a definite way of
informing themselves of the specific contents
and texts of such decrees.
The presidential of all presidential issuances
“of a public nature” or “of general
applicability” is mandated by law. Obviously,
presidential decrees that provide for fines,
forfeitures or penalties for their violation or
otherwise impose a burden or the people,
such as tax and revenue measures, fall within
this category. Other presidential issuances