Article 2.

Laws shall take effect after fifteen (15) 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. (New Civil Code of the
Philippines)

Executive Order 200, dated June 18, 1987, modifying Article 2 of the Civil Code,
provides for the publication of laws either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of
general circulation in the Philippines as a requirement for effectivity. In its amended
form, Article 2 provides that, unless otherwise provided, laws shall take effect after 15
days following the completion of the publication in the Official Gazette (Art. 2, Civil
Code) or in a newspaper of general circulation.

MYSTERIOUS RULES: Laws must come out in the open in the clear light of the sun
instead of skulking in the shadows with their dark, deep secrets. Mysterious
pronouncements and rumored rules cannot be recognized as binding unless their
existence and contents are confirmed by a valid publication intended to make full
disclosure and give proper notice to the people. The furtive law is like a scabbarded
saber that cannot feint parry or cut unless the naked blade is drawn. (G.R. No. L-63915.
December 29, 1986)

DUE PROCESS AND WHERE TO PUBLISH: A statute which by its terms provides for
its coming into effect immediately upon approval thereof, is properly interpreted as
coming into effect immediately upon publication thereof in the Official Gazette as
provided in Article 2 of the Civil Code. Such statute, in other words, should not be
regarded as purporting literally to come into effect immediately upon its approval or
enactment and without need of publication. For to so interpret such statute would be to
collide with the constitutional obstacle posed by the DUE PROCESS CLAUSE. The
enforcement of prescriptions which are both unknown to and unknowable by those
subjected to the statute, has been throughout history a common tool of tyrannical
governments. Such application and enforcement constitutes at bottom a negation of the
fundamental principle of legality in the relations between a government and its people.

At the same time, it is clear that the requirement of publication of a statute in the Official
Gazette, as distinguished from any other medium such as a newspaper of general
circulation, is embodied in a statutory norm and is not a constitutional command. The
statutory norm is set out in Article 2 of the Civil Code and is supported and reinforced by
Section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 638 and Section 35 of the Revised Administrative
Code. A specification of the Official Gazette as the prescribed medium of publication
may therefore be changed. Article 2 of the Civil Code could, without creating a
constitutional problem, be amended by a subsequent statute providing, for instance, for
publication either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the
country. Until such an amendatory statute is in fact enacted, Article 2 of the Civil Code
must be obeyed and publication effected in the Official Gazette and not in any other
medium. (FELICIANO, J., concurring in G.R. No. L-63915. December 29, 1986)
IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS (IRRs): Laws shall take effect after
fifteen days following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette, unless it
is otherwise provided. The Code shall take effect one year after such publication.
Similar provision is contained in Section 551 of the Administrative Code.

Furthermore, in a case decided by this Court in People v. Que Po Lay (March 29, 1954),
regarding Circular No. 20 of the Central Bank, the Supreme Court held: However,
Section 11 of the Revised Administrative Code provides that statutes passed by
Congress shall, in the absence of special provision, take effect at the beginning of the
fifteenth day after the completion of the publication of the statute in the Official Gazette.
Article 2 of the New Civil Code (Rep. Act 386) equally provides that the laws shall take
effect after fifteen days following the completion of their publication in the Official
Gazette, unless it is otherwise provided. It is true that Circular No. 20 of the Central
Bank is not a statute or law but being issued for the implementation of the law
authorizing its issuance, it has the force and effect of law according to settled
jurisprudence.
Moreover, as a rule, circulars and regulations especially like the Circular No. 20 of the
Central Bank in question which prescribes a penalty for its violation should be published
before becoming effective, this, on the general principle and theory that before the
public is bound by its contents, especially its penal provisions, a law, regulation or
circular must first be published and the people officially and specifically informed of said
contents and its penalties. (See also Lim Hoa Ting vs. Central Bank of the Philippines,
G. R. No. L-10666, September 24, 1958) From the cases of Ting and Po Lay, supra,
and from the provisions of Art. 2, Civil Code and Sec. 511, Administrative Code, it is
clear that publication in the Official Gazette of questioned Rule 30 is necessary for its
validity and application. (G.R. No. L-21026. December 29, 1965)

UNLESS OTHERWISE PROVIDED: Publication is indispensable in every case, but the

legislature may in its discretion provide that the usual fifteen-day period shall be
shortened or extended. An example, as pointed out by the present Chief Justice in his
separate concurrence in the original decision, is the Civil Code which did not become
effective after fifteen days from its publication in the Official Gazette but "one year after
such publication." The general rule did not apply because it was "otherwise provided."