Jose Darwin Trinidad BL5-A

Tanada v Tuvera
G.R.No. L-63915, December 29, 1986
Escolin, J.

EFFECTIVITY OF THE LAW

Facts:

Lorenzo Tanada, e.t al, invoked due process by demanding disclosure of a number of
Presidential Decrees, which they claim had not been published as according to law. Hon. Tuvera,
in His capacity as Executive Assistant to the President, Hon. Joaquin Venus, as Deputy
Executive to the President Melquiadez P. dela Cruz, as Director, Malacanang Records Office,
and Floriado S. Pablo, in his capacity as Director, Bureau of Printing, were named respondents.

In their reply, the respondents, through the Office of the Solicitor General, argued that while
publication was necessary as a rule, it was not so when it was “otherwise provided,” as when the
decrees themselves declared they were to become effective immediately upon their approval.

Held:

On April 24, 1985, the Court approved the necessity for the publication of some of these decrees
and ordered the respondents for publishing the said Presidential Decrees in the Official Gazette
of the Philippines.

Conclusion:

The Court in this case, stressed the indespensability of publication for the validity of a law. No
complete publication, the law is null and void. The non-publication of such laws is tantamount of
denying deUe process to the people, who has the right to know what laws govern them. The
clause, “unless otherwise provided,” refers to effectivity, and has nothing to do with its
publication.