EFFECT AND APPLICATION OF LAWS Effectivity of Laws

1. Tañada v. Tuvera

G.R. No. L-63915, December 29, 1986

FACTS:
• Petitioners Lorenzo M. Tanada, et. al. invoked due process in demanding the
disclosure of a number of Presidential Decrees which they claimed had not
been published as required by Law. 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 approval. The court decided on April 24, 1985 in
affirming the necessity for publication of some of the decrees. The court
ordered the respondents to publish in the official gazette all unpublished
Presidential Issuances which are of general force and effect. The petitioners
suggest that there should be no distinction between laws of general
applicability and those which are not. The publication means complete
publication, and that publication must be made in the official gazette.
ISSUE:
• Whether or not all laws shall be published in the official gazette.
RULING:
• The court held that all statute including those of local application shall
be published as condition for their effectivity, which shall begin 15
days after publication unless a different effectivity date is fixed by the
legislature.

The publication must be full or no publication at all since its purpose

is to inform the public of the content of the laws.  The clause “unless
otherwise provided” in Article 2 of the new Civil Code meant that the
publication  required therein was not always imperative, that the
publication when necessary, did not have to be made in the official
gazette.