STUDENT’S NAME Angela Elyssa S.

Alejandro
TOPIC Article 2 of Civil Code

CASE NAME Lorenzo M. Tañada v. Hon. Juan C. Tuvera

CASE NO. G.R. No. L-63915
PETITIONER Lorenzo M. Tanada, Abraham F. Sarmiento, and
Movement of Attonerys for Brotherhood, Integrity, and
Nationalism, Inc. [MABINI]
RESPONDENT HON. JUAN C. TUVERA, in his capacity as Executive
Assistant to the President, HON. JOAQUIN VENUS, in his
capacity as Deputy Executive Assistant to the President ,
MELQUIADES P. DE LA CRUZ, in his capacity as
Director, Malacañang Records Office, and FLORENDO S.
PABLO, in his capacity as Director, Bureau of Printing
PONENTE Justice Escolin (April 24, 1985); Justice Cruz (December
29, 1986)
TYPE OF CASE Civil

DOCTRINE:
● Article 2 of Civil Code (CC) - Laws shall take effect after 15 days following the
completion of their publication in the Official Gazette, unless it is otherwise
provided.
● Executive Order No. 200, s. 1987 – Providing for the publication of laws either in
the official gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines as a
requirement for their effectivity.

RELEVANT LAWS:
● Section 1 of Commonwealth Act 638 – There shall be published in the Official
Gazette [1] all important legislative acts and resolutions of a public nature of the
Congress of the Philippines; [2] all executive and administrative orders and
proclamations, except such as have no general applicability; [3] decisions or
abstracts of decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals as may be
deemed by said courts of sufficient importance to be so published; [4] such
documents or classes of documents as may be required so to be published by
law; and [5] such documents or classes of documents as the President of the
Philippines shall determine from time to time to have a general applicability and
legal effect, or which he may authorize to do be published.
● Administrative Code of 1987 Section 18 – 24:
o Sec. 18. When Laws Take Effect. - Laws shall take effect after fifteen (15)
days following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette or
in a newspaper of general circulation, unless it is otherwise provided.
o Sec. 19. Prospectivity. - Laws shall have prospective effect unless the
contrary is expressly provided.
 o Sec. 20. Interpretation of Laws and Administrative Issuances . - In the
interpretation of a law or administrative issuance promulgated in all the
official languages, the English text shall control, unless otherwise
specifically provided. In case of ambiguity, omission or mistake, the other
texts may be consulted.
o  Sec. 21. No Implied Revival of Repealed Law.- When a law which
expressly repeals a prior law itself repealed, the law first repealed shall not
be thereby revived unless expressly so provided.
o Sec. 22. Revival of Law Impliedly Repealed. - When a law which impliedly
repeals a prior law is itself repealed, the prior law shall thereby be revived,
unless the repealing law provides otherwise.
o Sec. 23. Ignorance of the Law . - Ignorance of the law excuses no one
from compliance therewith.
o Sec. 24. Contents. - There shall be published in the Official Gazette all
legislative acts and resolutions of a public nature; all executive and
administrative issuances of general application; decisions or abstracts of
decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, or other courts
of similar rank, as may be deemed by said courts of sufficient importance
to be so published; such documents or classes of documents as may be
required so to be published by law; and such documents or classes of
documents as the President shall determine from time to time to have
general application or which he may authorize so to be published.

The publication of any law, resolution or other official documents in the

Official Gazette shall be prima facie evidence of its authority.

Tañada V. Tuvera
G.R. No L-63915 April 24, 1985

FACTS:

 The petitioners (Tañada et al.) 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 if instructions, general orders, letter of
implementation and administrative orders.
 The respondents, through the Solicitor General, argued that the petitioners have
no legal personality or standing to bring the instant petition; thus, the petitioners
without the requisite legal personality to institute this mandamus proceeding are
not being “aggrieved parties” within the meaning of Section 3, Rule 65 of the
Rules of Court.
 Respondents further contend that publication in the Official Gazette is not a sine
qua non (an essential condition) requirement for the effectivity of laws where the
laws themselves provide for their own effective dates.
 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; this is anchored in Article 2 of Civil Code.
  The Court has rules that the 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 but
not when the law itself provides for the date when it goes into effect.

ISSUE:

Whether or not, the presidential issuances of general application which have not
been published, have binding force and effect.

RATIO:

Considered in the light of other statues applicable to the case, the conclusion is
reached that 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. This is
supported by Section 1 of Commonwealth Act 638.

In Section 1 of Commonwealth Act 638, it states that the publication in the

Official Gazette is important as it provides the general public adequate notice of various
laws which are to regulate their actions and conduct as citizens. Without such 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.

The Court therefore declares that presidential issuances of general application,

which have not been published, shall have no force and effect. In Pesigan vs. Angeles,
the Court ruled that “publication is necessary to apprise the public of the contents of
[penal] regulations and make the said penalties binding on the persons affected
thereby”.

The publication of all presidential issuances “of a public nature” or “of general
applicability” is mandated by law and a requirement of due process. It is a rule of law
that before a person may be bound by law, he must first be officially and specifically
informed of its contents.

DISPOSITIVE POSITION:

● Wherefore, the Court hereby orders respondents to publish in the Official Gazette
all the unpublished presidential issuances which are of general application, and
unless so published, they shall have no binding force and effect.
 Tañada V. Tuvera
G.R. No L-63915 December 29, 1986

FACTS:

The petitioners (Tañada et al.) present themselves again following the decision by the
Supreme Court on April 26, 1985 to ask for reconsideration or clarification of the prior
decision regarding the publication of laws. The court affirmed the necessity for the
publication of some of these decrees. The subject of contention is Article 2 of the Civil
Code.

ISSUE:

(1) What is meant by “law of public nature” or “applicability”?

(2) Must a distinction be made between laws of general applicability and laws
which are not?
(3) What is meant by “publication”?
(4) Where is the publication to be made?
(5) When is publication to be made?

RATIO:

The clause in Article 2 of Civil Code “unless it is otherwise provided” refers to the date
of effectivity and not to the requirement of publication itself, which cannot in any event
be omitted. The reason is that such omission would offend due process insofar as it
would deny the public the knowledge of the laws. This clause does not mean that the
legislature may make the law effective immediately upon approval, or on any other date,
without its previous publication.

Publication is indispensable in every case, but the legislature may in its discretion
provide that the usual fifteen-day period may be shortened or extended.

The term “laws” should refer to all laws and not only to those of general application. A
law without any bearing on the public would be invalid as an intrusion of privacy or as
class legislation or as an ultra vires act of the legislature. To be valid, the law must
invariably affect the public interest even if it might by directly applicable to only one
individual, or some of the people only, and not to the public as a whole.

Therefore, all statues, including those of local application and private laws, shall be
published as a condition for their effectivity, which shall begin fifteen days after the
publication unless a different effectivity date is fixed by the legislature. This rule also
covered:
(1) Presidential decrees and executive orders promulgated by the President.
(2) Administrative rules and regulations (if their purpose is to enforce of
implement existing law pursuant).
(3) Charter of a city notwithstanding that it applies only to a portion of the national
territory and directly affects only the inhabitants of that place.
The following is not covered by the law and does not need to be published:
(1) Interpretative regulations and those merely internal in nature, that is, regulating
only the personnel the administrative agency and not the public.
(2) Letters of instructions issued by administrative superiors concerning the rules or
guidelines to be followed by their subordinates.
(3) Municipal ordinances are not covered by this rule but by the Local Government
Code.

Publication must be in full or it is no publication at all since its purpose is to inform the
public of the contents of the laws. The mere mention of the number of the presidential
decree, the tile of such decree, its whereabouts, the supposed date of effectivity, and in
a mere supplement of the Official Gazette cannot satisfy the publication requirement.

Despite the erratic releases and limited readership of the Official Gazette, the Court is
not called to rule upon the wisdom or a law or repeal or modify if it is found impractical
since that function is for the legislature. The task of the Court is to merely interpret and
apply the law as conceived and approved by the political departments of the
government. Thus, the Court pronounced that under Article 2 of Civil Code, the
publication of laws must be made in the Official Gazette, and not elsewhere, as a
requirement for their effectivity after fifteen days from such publication or after a
different period provided by the legislature.

Undoubtedly, newspapers of general circulation could be better perform the function of

communicating the laws to the people as such periodicals are more easily available,
have a wider readership, and come out regularly. However, the trouble is that this kind
of publication is not the one that is required or authorized by the existing law. As long as
there is no amendment, Official Gazette remains the only place of publication.

DISPOSITIVE POSITION:

● Wherefore, it is hereby declared that all laws above defined shall immediately
upon their approval, or as soon thereafter as possible, be published in full in the
Official Gazette, to become effective only after fifteen days from their publication,
in accordance with Article 2 of the Civil Code.