G.R. No.

L-63915 April 24, 1985

LORENZO M. TAÑADA, ABRAHAM F. SARMIENTO, and MOVEMENT OF ATTORNEYS

FOR BROTHERHOOD, INTEGRITY AND NATIONALISM, INC. [MABINI], petitioners,
vs.
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, respondents.

ESCOLIN, J.:

CASE DIGEST

FACTS:

Petitioners seek a writ of mandamus to compel respondent public officials to publish and/or cause the
publication of various Presidential Decrees (PDs), letters of instructions, general orders, proclamations,
executive orders, letters of implementation and administrative orders, in the Official Gazette.

Petitioners invoked that a law, to be valid and enforceable, must be published in the Official Gazette or
otherwise effectively promulgated. The government argued that while publication was necessary as a rule,
it was not so when it was “otherwise provided,” as when the decrees themselves declared that they were
to become effective immediately upon their approval.

The SC, in its decision in 1985, affirmed the necessity of the publication of the presidential issuances
which are of general application. Petitioners then moved for reconsideration/clarification asserting that
the clause “unless it is otherwise provided” meant that the publication required therein was not always
imperative.

ISSUE:

Whether publication is an indispensable requirement for the effectivity of the presidential issuances in
question.

HELD:

YES. Publication of presidential issuances at bar is an indispensable requirement for their effectivity
despite the special provisions as to the date they are to take effect.

Art. 2 of the Civil Code provides that “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.” The phrase “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. All statutes,
including those of local application and private laws, shall be published as a condition for their
effectivity, which shall begin fifteen days after publication unless a different effectivity date is fixed by
the legislature.
In the case at bar, the SC held that all presidential decrees and executive orders promulgated by the
President in the exercise of legislative powers whenever the same are validly delegated by the legislature
or, at present, directly conferred by the Constitution, shall be published as a condition for their effectivity.
On the other hand, interpretative regulations and those merely internal in nature, that is, regulating only
the personnel of the administrative agency and not the public, need not be published.

Therefore, the Court declared that all laws aforementioned shall be published in full in the Official
Gazette to become effective in accordance with Article 2 of the Civil Code.