TAÑADA V.

TUVERA (1985)

Petition to seek a Writ of Mandamus

FACTS:

1. Lorenzo Tañada, Abraham Sarmiento, Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and
Nationalism Inc. seek a Writ of Mandamus to compel respondent public official to publish in Official
Gazette various presidential decrees, letters of instructions. general orders, proclamations and
executive orders, letter of implementation and administrative orders.

ISSUE:

Whether or not publication in the Official Gazette is needed before any law or statute becomes
enforceable.

RULING:

Yes. Under Commonwealth Act No. 638 Section 1:

"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;"

To give the general public adequate notice of the various laws which are to regulate their actions and
conduct it shall be published first in the Official Gazette. Without adequate notice, the maxim
"ignorantia legis non excusat" will have no basis of application, it will also be unjust to punish a
citizen to a law which he had never known.

Hence, the court orders the respondents to publish in the Official Gazette all presidential issuances
which are of general application, and unless so published, they shall have no force and binding effect.
TAÑADA V. TUVERA (1986)

Motion for reconsideration or clarification of decision promulgated on April 24, 1985 .

FACTS:
• After the court decision in 1985, the petitioners moved for reconsideration or clarification of
the decision as follows:
1. What is meant by "law of public nature" or "general 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 the publication to be made?
• The respondent then Solicitor General claimed that the clause "unless it is otherwise provided"
in Article 2 of the Civil Code meant that the publication required therein was not always
imperative; that publication, when necessary, did not have to be made in the Official Gazette.

ISSUE:

• Whether or not a distinction be made between laws of general applicability and laws which are
not as to their publication;
• Whether or not a publication shall be made in publications of general circulation.

RULING:

• Laws" should refer to all laws and not only to those of general application, for strictly speaking
all laws relate to the people in general albeit there are some that do not apply to them directly.
The law must invariably affect the public interest even if it might be directly applicable only to
one individual, or some of the people only, and not to the public as a whole.
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.

• "ART. 2. 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 clause "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. 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.

Hence, it is hereby declared that all laws as 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, or on another date specified by the legislature, in accordance with
Article 2 of the Civil Code