G.R. NO.

L-63915 DECEMBER 29, 1986

TANADA VS TUVERA

CRUZ, J.:

Civil Code 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.

Article 2 of the civil code ensures the constitutional right to due process and to information

So what we have here is the due process was invoked by the petitioners to demand the disclosure of a number of PDs
which they claimed had not been published in the OG as required by law.

The government then argued that while it is true that there is a necessity for the publication of laws, it was not so when
it was “otherwise provided”, since the decrees themselves declared that they were to become effective immediately
upon their approval.

The Court then ordered the respondents to publish to the OG all unpublished PDs which are of

1. General Application

Now, the petitioners filed a move for clarification/reconsideration of that decision, asking the

1.) What is meany by “general applicability”?

2.) Must there be a distinction made between laws of general applicability and those which are not?
3.) What is meant by Publication
4.) What and where is the publication to be made?

Now, the petitioners argue that there should be no distinction between laws of general applicability and those that are
not;

After a careful study of the provision in the CC and of the arguments made by the parties, the court holds that the clause
“unless otherwise provided” refers to the date of effectivity and not the requirement of publication itself.

 However, this does not mean that the legislature can make a law effective immediately upon approval without
its publication
 BUT the legislature in its discretion provide that the 15 day period be shortened or extended

Surely it is not within the intent of laws to deny the public knowledge of such laws that govern them, otherwise it would
prejudice the people who are supposed to know the law.

They furthered that the term “laws” should refer to all laws and not merely for general application, for all laws relate to
the people one way or another. As long as the law affects the public interest, even if it might only affect one person,
then it should still follow what is prescribed in Art.2

The court therefore holds that all statues, including those of local application and private laws shall be published as a
condition for their effectivity, which shall begin 15 days of its publication unless a different date is fixed by the
legislature

This includes:

1.) PDs, Eos

2.) Administrative rules and regulations must also be published if their purpose is to enforece or implement existing
laws
3.) Charter of a city
Other regulations that only affect the internal operations of a particular institution or organization need not be
published, as long as it does not necessarily affect the public interest directly.

The court also opined that the publication need not be made in the Official Gazette considering its erratic releases and
limited readership. Considering also that newspapers of general circulation would expedite the dissemination of
information with regards to new statutes, this, however, is not within the boundaries of the judiciary, and only the
legislative can it make it.

Wherefore, it is hereby declared that all laws shall be published in full in the OG, to become effective only 15 days from
their publication, or in any date specified by the legislature.