Tañada vs. Tuvera, G.R. No. L-63915 April 24, 1985
FACTS:
Petitioners in
this case seek a writ of mandamus to compel respondent public officials to
publish, and/or cause the publication in the Official Gazette of various
presidential decrees, letters of instructions, general orders, proclamations,
executive orders, letter of implementation and administrative orders.
Petitioners invoke
the people's right to be informed on matters of public concern, a right
recognized in Section 6, Article IV of the 1973 Philippine Constitution, as
well as the principle that laws to be valid and enforceable must be published
in the Official Gazette or otherwise effectively promulgated.
Respondents contend
that publication in the Official Gazette is not a sine qua non requirement for
the effectivity of laws where the laws themselves provide for their own
effectivity dates. It is thus submitted that since the presidential issuances
in question contain special provisions as to the date they are to take effect,
publication in the Official Gazette is not indispensable for their effectivity.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the
presidential decrees, general orders, proclamations, executive orders, letter
of implementation and administrative orders in question needs to be published?
RULING:
Article 2 does not
preclude the requirement of publication in the Official Gazette, even if the
law itself provides for the date of its effectivity.
Section 1 of
Commonwealth Act 638 provides as follows:
Section 1. There shall be published in the Official
Gazette [1] all important legisiative acts and resolutions of a public nature
of the, Congress of the Philippines; [2] all executive and administrative
orders and proclamations, except such as have no general applicability; [3]
decisions or abstracts of decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of
Appeals as may be deemed by said courts of sufficient importance to be so
published; [4] such documents or classes of documents as may be required so to
be published by law; and [5] such documents or classes of documents as the
President of the Philippines shall determine from time to time to have general
applicability and legal effect, or which he may authorize so to be published.
...
The clear object
of the above-quoted provision is to give the general public adequate notice of
the various laws which are to regulate their actions and conduct as citizens.
Without such notice and publication, there would be no basis for the
application of the maxim "ignorantia legis non excusat." It would be
the height of injustice to punish or otherwise burden a citizen for the
transgression of a law of which he had no notice whatsoever, not even a
constructive one.
The very first
clause of Section I of Commonwealth Act 638 reads: "There shall be published
in the Official Gazette ..." The word "shall" used therein
imposes upon respondent officials an imperative duty. That duty must be
enforced if the Constitutional right of the people to be informed on matters of
public concern is to be given substance and reality. The law itself makes a
list of what should be published in the Official Gazette.
The publication of
all presidential issuances "of a public nature" or "of general
applicability" is mandated by law. Obviously, presidential decrees that
provide for fines, forfeitures or penalties for their violation or otherwise
impose a burden or. the people, such as tax and revenue measures, fall within
this category. Other presidential issuances which apply only to particular
persons or class of persons such as administrative and executive orders need
not be published on the assumption that they have been circularized to all
concerned.
It is needless to
add that the publication of presidential issuances "of a public
nature" or "of general applicability" is a requirement of due
process. It is a rule of law that before a person may be bound by law, he must
first be officially and specifically informed of its contents.
The Court
therefore declares that presidential issuances of general application, which
have not been published, shall have no force and effect.
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