STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

Midterm Reviewer

1) What is a law distinguished from a statute?

Law in its jural and concrete sense refers to a whole body or system of law. It is a rule of
conduct formulated and made obligatory by legitimate power of the state. It includes
Republic Acts, Presidential Decrees, Executive Orders issued by the president in the
exercise of his legislative power, other Presidential issuances in the exercise of his ordinance
power, Jurisprudence, rules and regulations promulgated by administrative or executive
officers pursuant to a delegated power, and ordinances passed by sanggunians of local
government units while a statute refers to an act of legislature as an organized body,
expressed in form, and passed according to the procedure required to constitute it as part of
the law of the land. Statutes enacted by the legislature are those passed by the Philippine
Commission, Philippine Legislature, The Batasang Pambansa, and the Congress of the
Philippines. It also includes Presidential Decrees of Marcos during the period of martial law
under the 1973 Constitution and Executive Orders of Aquino during the revolutionary
period under the Freedom Constitution both in the exercise of their legislative power at the
said period.

2) Differentiate public statute from private.

A public statute is one which affects the public at large or the whole community while
private statute is one which applies only to a specific person or subject. But whether the
statute is private or public depends on substance rather than on form.
3) What are the classifications of public statutes and their brief differences?
Public statutes are classified into:
(1) General law. It is one which applies to the whole state and operates throughout the state
alike upon all the people or all of a class. It embraces a class or subjects or places and does
not omit any object or place naturally belonging to such class.(example: Civil Code of the
Philippines, Family Code of the Philippines, Revised Penal Code of the Phillipines)
(2) Special law. It is one which relates to particular persons or things of a class or to a
particular community, individual, or thing. ( Republic Act No. 409, RA 9262- vawc, RA
9165-anti- dangerous drug act)
(3) Local law. It is one whose operation is confined to a specific place or locality like
municipal, barangay, city, provincial ordinances.
4) Classify a statute according to its duration.
A statute may be a permanent or temporary. A permanent statute is one whose operation is
not limited but continues until repealed while a temporary statute is one whose duration is
for a limited period of time fixed in the statute itself or whose life ceases upon the
happening of an event.
5) Expound the idea of prospectivity and retroactivity of the application of a statute.
A statute may be prospective or retroactive as to its application. Under Article 4 of the Civil
Code, Laws shall have no retroactive effect unless the contrary is provided. Laws always
take effect after they have been enacted and published, in general, laws are prospective
unless it was expressly provided its retroactivity.
For instance, Law A provides that it shall take effect after 15 days following its publication
on Aug. 5, 2010. The law takes effect on Aug. 20, 2010 and will continue to take effect
thereafter until it is repealed or struck down. Law A is prospective.
Another example, Law B provides that it shall take effect after 20 days following its
publication on Dec. 3, 2012, and that it shall have retroactive effect. The law takes effect on
Dec. 23, 2012 and will continue to take effect thereafter, but the law shall also be applied to
things and events that have happened in the past—prior to Dec. 23, 2012. Law B is both
prospective and retroactive, but its retroactivity only comes into operation upon the
 effectivity of the law itself, which is on Dec. 23, 2012.
6) What are the other classification of statutes according to is operation? Give the definitions
and examples.
Other classifications are declaratory, curative, mandatory, directory, substantive, remedial,
and penal statutes.
(1) Declaratory statute is one enacted for the purpose of removing doubts or putting an end
to conflicting decisions in regard to what the law is in relation to a particular matter.
(2) Curative statutes intended to cure (that is, to obviate the ordinary legal effects or
consequences of) defects, errors, omissions, or irregularities of a statute.
(3) Mandatory statute is a statute which contains word of command or prohibition to which
a person has no choice but to obey like RA, Phil. Constitution, EO, PD.
(4)Directory statute is a statute which operates to confer discretion upon a person, namely to
act according to the dictates of their own judgment and conscience and not controlled by the
judgement of others like Memorandum orders, memorandum circulars.
(5) Substantive law is one which creates, defines, and regulates rights.
(6) Remedial law is that branch of law which prescribes the method or procedure of
enforcing rights or obtaining redress for their invasion.
(7) Penal law is a law prescribing a penalty (as a fine or imprisonment) for one who violates
it.
7) What is affirmative form of statute compare to negative?
A statute couched in affirmative form is one which directs the doing of an act, or declares
what shall be done where as a negative statute is one which prohibits a thing from being
done, or declares what shall not be done.
8) What is the manner of referring to statutes?
Statutes passed by the legislature are consecutively numbered and identified by the
respective authorities that enacted them. They are serially numbered and have a title.
Statutes passed by the Philippine Commission and Philippine Legislature from 1901to 1935
are identified as Public Acts, during the Commonwealth from 1936 to 1946 are
Commonwealth Acts, and those passed by the Congress of the Philippines from 1946 to
1972 and from 1987 under 1987 Constitution are named as Republic Acts. Laws
promulgated by the Batasang Pambansa are referred to as Batas Pambansa. Presidential
decrees and executive orders issued by the President in the exercise of his/her legislative
power during martial law of Marcos Regime and revolutionary Government of Aquino
under Freedom Constitution respectively are also serially numbered.
9) How to enact statutes? What are the steps in the passage of bill into law?
The enactment of a law starts from a passage of bill introduced by a member/s of the
Congress, signed by the author/s and filed with the secretary of the House. The secretary
reports the bill for first reading which consists of reading the number and the title of the bill,
followed by its referral to the appropriate Committee for study and recommendation. The
Committee may hold a public hearing about it and submit its report and recommendation for
calendar for second reading.
On second reading, the bill shall be read in full with the amendments proposed by the
Committee. The bill will be subject to debates, pertinent motions and amendments, after
then the bill be voted on the second reading and if approved it shall be included in the
Calendar for the third reading.
On third reading, the bill will be submitted for final yeas and nays. A bill approved after
three readings by one House is transmitted to the other House for concurrence. If the other
House approves without amendment, the bill is passed by Congress and be transmitted to the
President for appropriate action. If the other House introduces amendments and the House
from which the bill originated does not agree with said amendments, the differences will be
settled by the Conference Committee of both chambers. Sometimes, a Conference
Committee produces unexpected results or a different version from the two Houses, hence,
 there may be three versions of bill one is that of the lower House, of the Senate, and of the
Conference Committee. If both houses approved the report of the Conference Committee
adopting the third version of the bill, then this third version will be the final version and be
submitted to the President for approval. Before the bill be passed to the president, it is
authenticated through signing by the Speaker of the House and Senate President of the
printed copy of the approved bill and certified by the secretaries of both Houses. The
approved bill is now ready for the approval or rejection of the president. This approved bill
becomes a law in either of the three ways; (1) When the president signs it, it becomes a law,
(2) When the president does not sign nor communicate his veto of the bill within thirty days
after his receipt thereof, bill becomes a law, and (3) If the president vetoes the bill, the bill is
repass by Congress and two-thirds vote of all its members, each House voting separately is
required to make approved bill a law.
10) What are the parts of statutes?
The parts of statutes are preamble, title of statute, enacting clause, purview or body of the
statute, separability clause, repealing clause, effectivity clause,
11) What are the limitations provided by the constitution in embracing one title – one subject
rule in the statute?
The limitations are: first, the legislature is to refrain from the conglomeration, under one
statute of heterogenous subjects. Second, the title of bill is to be couched in a language
sufficient to notify the legislators and the public and those concern with the import of the
single subject thereof.
12) How does the title of the statute be construed?
The statute should be liberally construed and not be given an technical interpretation. If
there is a doubt as to where the title sufficiently expresses the subject matter of the statute, it
must be resolved against the doubt and in favor of the constitutionality of the statute.
13) What is the effect of the insufficiency of the title of the statute?
A statute whose title does not conform to the constitutional requirement or is not related in
any manner to its subject is null and void.
14) What is an enacting clause?
The enacting clause is that part of a statute written immediately after the title thereof which
states the authority by which the act is enacted.
15) What is the purview of the statute all about?
The purview or body of the statute is that part that tell what the law is all about.
16) What do you understand about the separability clause, repealing, and effectivity clause in a
statute?
A separability clause is that part of statute which states that if any provision of the act is
declared invalid, the remainder shall not be affected thereby.
A repealing clause is a part of statute repealing its previous enactment
An effectivity clause is the provision when the law takes effect. Usually, the law takes effect
15 days from a complete publication in the Official Gazette or of the newspaper of the
General circulation unless otherwise it was expressly provided by the statute.
17) What are the bills that must be originated only from the House of Representatives? Why?
These are the appropriation bill, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of public
debt, bills of local application and private bills.
The initiative for filing such bills must come from the House of Representative because
elected as they are from the districts, the members of the House can be more sensitive to the
local needs and problems, however the senate may propose or concur with amendments or
approach problems from the national perspective.
18) What are the four major phases in the budget process?
These are; Budget Preparation, Budget Authorization, Budget Execution, and Budget
Accountability. After the approval of the proposed budget by the DBM, the approved budget
is submitted to Congress for evaluation and inclusion in the appropriations law.
19) What is General Appropriation Bill?
It is a special type of legislation, whose content is limited to specified sums of money
dedicated to specific purposes or a separate fiscal unit.
20) Where does the power of the purse belong?
Under the Constitution, the spending power or the power of the purse belongs to Congress,
subject only to the veto power of the president. The president may propose the budget , but
the final say on matter of appropriations is lodged in Congress.
21) If the Congress failed to pass general appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year. What
will happen?
If the Congress failed to pass the general appropriations bill for the next fiscal year, the
general appropriations law for the preceding fiscal year shall be deemed automatically re-
enacted and shall remain in force and effect until the general appropriations bill is passed by
the Congress.
22) Can a president veto on the appropriations bill?
Yes, the president can veto any particular item/s not only on the appropriations bill but also
on revenue or tariff bill, but the veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not
object.
23) In case of conflict between the enrolled bill and the legislative journals, which shall prevail?
It is the enrolled bill that should prevail except as to matters that the Constitution requires to
be entered in the journals such as yeas and nays on the final reading of the bill.
24) What are the rules in keeping the records of legislative proceedings?
Section 16(3) Art. 6 of 1987 Constitution, Each House may determine the rules of its
proceedings...
(4) Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the
same, excepting such part as may, in its judgment, affect national security; and yeas and
nays on any question shall, at the request of one fifth of the members present, be entered in
the Journal.
25) What is the general rule in the title of bill and/or statute?
It is a mandatory law that “Every bill passed by Congress shall embrace only one subject
which shall be expressed in the title thereof (Art 6, Sec 26 (1) 1987 Constitution).”
26) What are the limitations upon legislation?
(1) To refrain from conglomeration, under one statute, of heterogeneous subjects,
(2) Title of the bill should be couched in a language sufficient to notify the legislators and
the public and those concerned of the import of the single subject.
27) What is the main purpose of embracing the “one-title one-subject rule?
The principal purpose is to apprise the legislators of the object, nature, and scope of the
provision of the bill and to prevent the enactment into law of matters which have not
received the notice, action and study of the legislators.
To prohibit duplicity in legislation, to prevent hodgepodge/ log-rolling legislation, to prevent
surprise or fraud upon the legislature, to fairly apprise the people, through publication of the
subjects of the legislation, and used as a guide in ascertaining legislative intent when the
language of the act does not clearly express its purpose; may clarify doubt or ambiguity.
28) How does the constitutional requirement of the title be construed?
It shall be liberally construed. If there is doubt, it should be resolved against the doubt and in
favor of the constitutionality of the statute.
29) What is the remedy if there has been any mistake in the printing of the bill before it was
certified by the officer of the assembly and approved by the Chief Executive?
If there has been any mistake in the printing of the bill before it was certified by the officer
of the assembly and approved by the Chief Executive, the remedy is by amendment by
enacting a curative legislation not by judicial decree.
30) What are the parts of the body of the statute?
These include: The short title, policy section, definition section, administrative section,
 sections prescribing standards of conduct, sections imposing sanctions for violation of its
provisions, transitory provision, separability clause, and the effectivity clause.
31) What are Presidential issuances?
These are which the president issues in the exercise of his ordinance power like EO, AO
(administrative orders), proclamations, MO (memorandum orders), MC (memorandum
circulars), and general or special orders.
32) Differentiate the different presidential issuances.
(1) Executive Orders are acts of the President providing for rules of a general or permanent
character in the implementation or execution of constitutional/ statutory powers. They do
not have the force and effect of laws enacted by congress.
(2) Administrative Orders are acts of the President which relate to particular aspects of
governmental operations in pursuance of his duties as administrative head.
(3) Proclamations are acts of the President fixing a date or declaring a statute or condition of
public moment or interest, upon the existence of which the operation of a specific law or
regulation is made to depend.
(4) Memorandum Orders are acts of the President on matters of administrative details or of
subordinate or temporary interest which only concern a particular officer or office of
government .
(5) Memorandum circulars are acts of the president on matters relating to internal
administration which the President desires to bring to the attention of all or some of the
departments, agencies, bureaus, or offices of the government, for information of compliance.
(6) General or Specific Order are acts and commands of the President in his capacity as
Commander-in-Chief of the AFP.