B3.

Statutory Materials
materials related to statutes
(laws or bills passed by the
legislature)
Constitution
- a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to
which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed
- Cited by:
- Reference to Article, section, and paragraph
- When Constitution is no longer in force, put year in parenthesis

Ex.

CONST. (1935), art. III, sec. 1, par. (3).

CONST. art. VII

Session Laws
Definition:

- Enacted in a single session of a legislature

- Bound-volume form
- Indexed and numbered (chronological order)
- Citation of source not required but may be added
- E.g. Public Laws, Laws & Resolutions, Vital Documents or Official Gazette

Section, Article, or Paragraph

- SHOULD FOLLOW main citation IF citation is in the footnotes
 Public Laws Cite as:

(1900-1934) Act No. ___ (year of effectivity), volume

Public Laws page.
- Relationships between: Ex. Act No. 1160 (1904), art 3.
- Individuals and government
- Individual to Individual (direct
concern to society)
Commonwealth Acts Cite as:

Com. Act No. ___ (year of effectivity),

(1935-1945) volume Public Laws Com. page.

- Commonwealth Congress
Ex. Com. Act No. 52 (1936), sec. 2 (b).
 Cite as:
Presidential Decrees Pres. Decree No. ___ (year of effectivity),
(Sept. 21, 1972-Feb. 20, 1986) volume Vital Docs. page.

- Issued by the President

- Has the force of law Ex. Pres. Decree No. 603 (1975).
 Cite as:

Batas Pambansa Batas Blg. ___ (year of effectivity), volume

(July 23, 1984-Feb. 1, 1986) Acts & Res. page.

- Laws enacted by Batasang

Ex. Batas Blg. 80 (1981), Acts & Res.,
Pambansa 1980-81, 1-30.
 Executive Orders
Cite as:

Exec. Order No. ___ (year)

(Feb. 23, 1986-July 26, 1987)
- Issued by the President to an Ex. Exec. Order No. 329 (1950), 46 O.G.
executive branch of the government 2035 (July, 1950).
- Has the force of law
 Cite as:
Republic Acts Rep. Act No. ___ (year of effectivity),
(1946-1972; July 27, 1987 to date) volume Laws and Res. page.

- Used to create policy to carry out the

principles of the Constitution Ex. Rep. Act No. 1792 (1957), sec. 4.
- Congress of the Philippines
 Codes
- systematic statement of a body of law which is given statutory force

General rule in citing codes:

a. cite the name of the particular code
b. article number or section number (if any) without any indication of date
c. but if no longer in force put the year of effectivity in parethesis
EXAMPLES

Civil Code, Art. 297

Civil Code (1899), Art. 67

List of Philippine Codes and how they are cited:
Agricultural Land Reform
Code as amended by Agrarian
Reforms Cite as:

major advancement of land reform in the Agrarian Reform

Philippines and it abolished tenancy and
established a leasehold system in which
farmers paid fixed rentals to landlords,
rather than a percentage of harvest.
 Civil Code
Cite as:
systematic collection of laws designed to
deal with the core areas of private law CIVIL CODE
such as for dealing with business and
negligence lawsuits and practices
Coconut Industry Code
Cite as:
promotes the rapid integrated
COCONUT INDUS. CODE
development and growth and other palm
oil industry in all its aspects and ensure
that the coconut farmers become direct
participants in, and beneficiaries thereof.
 Fire Code Cite as:
regulation made under the Fire
Protection and Prevention Act, 1997 FIRE CODE
consisting of a set of minimum
requirements respecting fire safety
within and around existing buildings and
facilities
 Intellectual Property
Cite as:
Code
INTELLECTUAL PROP. CODE
outlines the intellectual property rights
of a Filipino citizen, and the benefits to
which he/she is entitled
 Cite as:
Labor Code
LABOR CODE
law governing employment practices and
labor relations in the Philippines
 Cite as:
Local Government Code
LOCAL GOVT. CODE
establishes the system and defines
powers of provincial, city, municipal and
barangay governments in the Philippines
 Cite as:
State Auditing Code
AUDIT CODE
establish the general principles of
professional ethics in order to ensure an
exemplary conduct of the Auditors
 Cite as:
Revised Penal Code
REV. PEN. CODE
contains the general penal laws of the
Philippines
Cooperative Code Cite as:

COOPERATIVE CODE
law which governs cooperatives
Corporation Code Cite as:

CORP. CODE
 Cite as:

Family Code FAMILY CODE

Child and Youth Cite as:

Welfare Code CHILD & YOUTH WELFARE CODE

 Cite as:
Code of Commerce
COMMERCIAL CODE
 Cite as:
Forestry Reform Code FORESTRY CODE
 Cite as:
Insurance Code INS. CODE
 Cite as:
Land Transportation &
TRANSP. & TRAFFIC CODE
Traffic Code
Muslim Code of Cite as:

Personal Laws MUSLIM CODE

 Cite as:
National Building Code
BLDG. CODE
National Code of
Cite as:
Marketing of
MILK CODE
Breastmilk Substitute
& Supplements
National Internal
-
Cite as:

TAX CODE
Revenue Code
 Cite as:
Omnibus Election Code
ELECT. CODE
Omnibus Investments Cite as:

Code INVESTMENTS CODE

Philippine Environment
Cite as:
Code ENVIRON. CODE
Revised Administrative Cite as:

Code REV. ADM. CODE

 Cite as:
Sanitation Code SANITATION CODE
Tariff and Customs Cite as:

Code TARIFF CODE

 Cite as:
Water Code WATER CODE
Bills, Resolutions, and Committee Reports
● Bill
○ a draft of a proposed law presented to parliament for discussion
● Resolution
○ a formal expression of opinion or intention agreed on by a legislative body,
committee, or other formal meeting, typically after taking a vote
● Committee Reports
○ Reports are issued for almost every bill that becomes a law, and there is
usually a report from each of the House and Senate committees that
considered the legislation. A report will accompany the bill when it is sent to
the full chamber for debate and voting.
EXAMPLES
S. No. 5, 6th Cong. 1st Sess, (1966).

H. No. 15085, 5th Cong., 4th Sess. (1965).

S. Res. 1, 4th Cong., 1st Session, (1958).

H. Res. 2, 6th Cong., 3rd Sess. (1966).

Comm. on National Defense and Security, H. Rpt. 28, 5th Cong., 1st Sess.
(1962).
Other abbreviations: Cite as:
Senate or House of Representatives Concurrent Resolutions...........S. Con. Res.
Senate or House of Representatives Joint Resolution.........................S. J. Res.
Senate or House Committee Reports....................................................H. Rpt.; S. Rprt.
Resolution of both Houses when sitting together but voting separately..R. B. H.
Batasang Pambansa (1978-1986)
Examples :

P. B. No. 2878, 1st Bataaan, 5th Sess. (1983)

C. B. No. 54, 1st Batasan, 5th Sess. (1983)

For Committee reports,

Example:
Committee on Civil Service Rpt. 545, 1st Batasan, 5th Sess. (1983).

Abbreviations Cite as
Cabinet Bill.............................................. C.B.
Journal of the Batasan........................... J.B.
Letters/Annual Reports Transmitted.....Communication
Parliamentary Bills.................................. P.B.
Records of the Batasan.......................... R.B.
Resolutions.............................................. Res.
Written Answer........................................ W.A.