Tañada v. Tuvera

Petitioners Lorenzo M. Tañada, Abraham F. Sarmiento and MABINI invoked due process in demanding the publication of presidential decrees they claimed had not been published as required by law. In its decision of April 24, 1985, the Court ordered respondents, officials of the Office of the President, to publish in the Official Gazette all unpublished presidential issuances of general application, which would otherwise have no binding force. Petitioners moved for reconsideration and clarification, asking what "general applicability" meant, whether laws not of general applicability were exempt, what "publication" meant, and where and when it had to be made. They argued there should be no distinction, that publication must be complete, and that it must be made forthwith in the Official Gazette. The Solicitor General first argued that the motion sought an advisory opinion, that the clause "unless it is otherwise provided" in Art. 2 of the Civil Code made publication not always imperative, and that publication need not be in the Official Gazette. After the February Revolution, the new Solicitor General conceded that publication, when required, had to be in full and in the Official Gazette, but argued that internal issuances and those for particular persons need not be published.

1. 1Whether the clause "unless it is otherwise provided" in Art. 2 of the Civil Code allows publication to be dispensed with.
2. 2Whether only laws of general application must be published.
3. 3Whether publication must be in full and in the Official Gazette.

No to the first two; yes to the third. The clause "unless it is otherwise provided" refers to the date of effectivity and not to the requirement of publication, which "cannot in any event be omitted." The legislature may shorten or extend the fifteen-day period, as the Civil Code itself took effect one year after publication, but it cannot make a law effective without prior publication. Omitting publication would offend due process by denying the public knowledge of the laws that govern them, for non-penal as well as penal laws. The conclusive presumption that everyone knows the law presupposes publication, and the constitutional right to information on matters of public concern applies to legislative enactments. The term "laws" covers all statutes, including those of local application and private laws. Covered are presidential decrees and executive orders issued in the exercise of legislative powers, and administrative rules and regulations that enforce or implement existing law. Interpretative regulations, internal rules and letters of instructions to subordinates need not be published; municipal ordinances fall under the Local Government Code. Publication must be in full; mentioning only a decree's number, title or whereabouts is not even substantial compliance. Although newspapers might inform the public better, Art. 2 of the Civil Code, which had not been amended, requires publication in the Official Gazette "and not elsewhere," and the Court may not rewrite the law for impracticality. The Court declared that all laws so defined must be published in full in the Official Gazette immediately upon approval or as soon as possible, and take effect fifteen days after publication or on another date the legislature specifies.