One of sources of law of the Philippines is statute.
Printing, called Public Laws, volumes 1 to 31, with
This is an act of the legislature as an organized
body, expressly in the form and passed according to the
procedure required to constitute it as part of the law of
the land.
which are found in the various enactment of the
Philippine legislature since its creation in 1900 to the
present.
From the establishment of the American Civil
Government in 1900 to 1935, there were 4,275 laws
known as Acts passed by the Philippine Commission and
its bicameral successor, the Philippine Legislature.
The Commonwealth period the national assembly
enacted 733 statutes known as Commonwealth Acts,
while 6,635 Republic Acts were legislated from
July 4, 1946 to September 21, 1972 when martial law
was imposed presidential decrees was issued by
President Marcos exercising his power as the legislator.
Law promulgated by the Batasang Pambansa is
referred as Batas Pambansa. There were a total of 891
Batas Pambansa passed by both the Interim and the
Regular Batasang Pambansa.
President Corazon C. Aquino after succeeding
President Marcos under the Freedom Constitution of
1986, was allowed to exercise both executive and
legislative powers until the ratification of the new
Philippine Constitution and the establishment of a new
Congress in 1987 she recognized the validity of existing
Presidential Decrees repealed & abolished repressive
laws under her predecessor by enacting executive
orders.
As the new constitutions ratified the bicameral
Congress is restored. The enactment begins with Rep.
Act No. 6636 which was a continuation of the law
enacted by the previous Congress before martial law. To
date, the Congress, has as its last enactment, Republic
Act No. 11108 dated October 30 2018,
The official repository of laws passed by Congress
is the Official Gazette, published by the Bureau of
Printing, now the National Printing Office, since the start
of the American Regime. At present newspapers of
general circulation are official repositories of laws by
virtue of Executive Order No. 200, s. 1986.
The other official repositories of statutes are: for
Acts passed by the Philippine Commission and
Philippine Legislature, a publication by the Bureau of
English and Spanish editions; two volumes of Public
Laws contained Commonwealth Act Nos. 1-412. The
features of the compilation are the same as the
previous publication on public laws except that this one
has a General Index: the Bureau of Printing also
published Republic Acts in Laws and Resolutions in a
series of volumes containing Republic Act Nos. 1 to
6635; for the Batas Pambansa, the official repository is
the Acts & Resolutions by the Batasang Pambansa.
In addition to the official collections mentioned
above, there are several private editions of compilation
of statutes such as: Philippine Annotated Laws (PAL)
published by the Lawyers’ Cooperative Publishing Co., in
24 volumes with pocket parts. The compilation consists
of all Acts of the Philippine Legislatures of a general and
permanent in nature and in-force as of January 1956.
The Acts are compiled in the alphabetical order of given
titles. This publication, however, has been discontinued
in 1963; Commonwealth Acts Annotated, by Prof.
Sulpicio Guevara, in seven volumes, contain permanent
statutes from Public Act No.1 to Public Act No. 2439
while the Philippine Permanent and General Statutes, a
U.P. Law Center publication in seven volumes is a
compilation of all existing permanent and general
statutes from Acts to Republic Acts and some
Presidential Decrees issued during martial law.
In legal research, it is also important that the
deliberation in the passage of a bill is ascertained. This,
we call legislative history because legislation is
sometimes ambiguous and contains omissions. It is
often necessary to ascertain the intent of the legislative
body when it passed the legislation. Legislative history
includes such things as sponsorship speeches, legislative
hearings, debates and reports and earlier drafts of the
final bills.
To get the legislative history of a statute, the
Senate and the House of Representatives publish its
respective Congressional Records and Congressional
Journals, which contain the proceedings of each
chamber. In tracing the legislative history of an
enactment an index to record or journal entitled History
of Bills and Resolutions is used. This publication records
all actions taken on all bills and resolutions introduced
during the regular and special sessions of both Houses,
from the filing of a measure, through the motions
presented, to its signing by the President or its
repassage over his veto.
CHAPTER ONE: Statutes
IN GENERAL
Laws, generally
A whole body or system of law
Rule of conduct formulated and made obligatory by
legitimate power of the state
Includes RA, PD, EO (president in the ex of legislative
power), Presidential issuances (ordinance power)
Jurisprudence, ordinances passed by sanggunians of local
government units.
Statutes, generally
An act of legislature (Philippine Commission, Phil.
Legislature, Batasang Pambansa, Congress)
PD’s of Marcos during the period of martial law 1973
Constitution
EO of Aquino revolutionary period Freedom Constitution
Public – affects the public at large
general – applies to the whole state and operates
throughout the state alike upon all people or all of
a class.
Special – relates to particular person or things of a
class or to a particular community, individual or
thing.
Local Law – operation is confined to a specific
place or locality (e.g municipal ordinance)
Private – applies only to a specific person or subject.
Permanent and temporary statutes
Permanent - one whose operation is not limited in duration
but continues until repealed.
Temporary - duration is for a limited period of time fixed in
the statute itself or whose life ceases upon the happening of
an event.
o E.g. statute answering to an emergency
Other classes of statutes
Prospective or retroactive – accdg. to application
Declaratory, curative, mandatory, directory, substantive,
remedial, penal – accdg. to operation
According to form
o Affirmative
o Negative
Manner of referring to statutes
Public Acts – Phil Commission and Phil Legislature 1901-
1935
Commonwealth Acts – 1936- 1946
Republic Acts – Congress 1946- 1972, 1987 ~
Batas Pambansa – Batasang Pambansa
Identification of laws – serial number and/or title
ENACTMENT OF STATUTES
Legislative power, generally
Power to make, alter and repeal laws
Vested in congress – 1987 Constitution
President – 1973 & Freedom (PD and EO respectively)
Sangguniang barangay, bayan, panglungsod, panlalawigan –
only within respective jurisdiction – ordinances
Administrative or executive officer
Delegated power
Issue rules and regulations to implement a specific
law
Congress legislative power
The determination of the legislative policy and its
formulation and promulgation as a defined and binding rule
of conduct.
Legislative power - plenary except only to such limitations
as are found in the constitution
Procedural requirements, generally
Provided in the constitution (for Bills, RA)
Provided by congress – enactment of laws
Rules of both houses of congress (provided also by the
Constitution)
Passage of bill
Proposed legislative measure introduced by a member of
congress for enactment into law
Shall embrace only one subject which shall be expressed in
the title
Singed by authors
File with the Secretary of the House
Bills may originate from either lower or upper House
Exclusive to lower house
Appropriation
Revenue/ tariff bills
Bills authorizing increase of public debt
Bills of local application
Private bills
After 3 readings, approval of either house (see Art 6 Sec 26
(1))
Secretary reports the bill for first reading
First reading – reading the number and title, referral to the
appropriate committee for study and recommendation
Committee – hold public hearings and submits
report and recommendation for calendar for second
reading
Second reading – bill is read in full (with amendments
proposed by the committee) – unless copies are distributed
and such reading is dispensed with
o Bill will be subject to debates, motions and
amendments
o Bill will be voted on
o A bill approved shall be included in the calendar of
bills for 3rd reading
Third reading – bill approved on 2nd reading will be
submitted for final vote by yeas and nays,
Bill approved on the 3rd reading will be transmitted to the
“Other House” for concurrence (same process as the first
passage)
o If the “Other House” approves without amendment
it is passed to the President
o If the “Other House” introduces amendments, and
disagreement arises, differences will be settled by
the Conference Committees of both houses
o Report and recommendation of the 2 Conference
Committees will have to be approved by both
houses in order to be considered pass
President
o Approves and signs
o Vetoes (within 30 days after receipt)
o Inaction
If the President vetoes – send back to the House where it
originated with recommendation
o 2/3 of all members approves, it will be sent to the
other house for approval
o 2/3 of the other house approves – it shall become a
law
o If president did not act on the bill with in 30 days
after receipt, bill becomes a law
Summary : 3 ways of how a bill becomes a law.
President signs
inaction of president with in 30 days after receipt
vetoed bill is repassed by congress by 2/3 votes of all its
members, each house voting separately.
Appropriations and revenue bills
Same as procedure for the enactment of ordinary bills
Only difference is that they can only originate from the 2. Session Laws
Lower House but the Senate may propose/ concur with the Citation of source, e.g., Public Laws, Laws &
amendments
Resolutions, Vital Documents or Official Gazette
Limitations of passage (as per Constitution) Art 6 Sec. 27 (2)
o congress may not increase the appropriation is not required but may be added. Reference to
recommended by the President XXX section, article or paragraph should follow not
o particular appropriation limited precede the main citation if the citation is in the
o procedure for Congress is the same to all other footnote.
department/ agencies (procedure for approving
appropriations ) a. Public Laws, 1900 to 1934.
o special appropriations – national treasurer/ revenue Cite as: Act No.________ (year of effectivity),
proposal volume Public Laws page.
o no transfer of appropriations xxx authority to Example: Act No. 1160 (1904), art. 3.
augment
b. Commonwealth Acts, 1935-1945.
o discretionary funds – for public purposes
o general appropriations bills – when re-enacted Cite as: Com. Act No._______ (year of
o President my veto any particular item/s in an effectivity), volume Public Laws Com. Page.
appropriation revenue, or tariff bill. Example: Com. Act No. 52 (1936), sec. 2 (b).
Authentication of bills c. Presidential Decrees, September 21, 1972 to
Before passed to the President
February 20, 1986.
Indispensable
By signing of Speaker and Senate President Cite as: Batas Blg. ____ (year of effectivity),
 volume VITAL DOCS. page.
Unimpeachability of legislative journals Example: Pres. Decree No. 603 (1975) .
Journal of proceedings d. Batas Pambansa July 23, 1984 to February 1,
Conclusive with respect to other matters that are required by 1986.
the Constitution
Cite as: Batas Blg. ____ (year of effectivity),
Disputable with respect to all other matters
By reason of public policy, authenticity of laws should rest volume ACTS & RES. page.
upon public memorials of the most permanent character Example: Batas Blg. 80 (1981), ACTS & RES.,
Should be public 1980-81, 1-30
Enrolled bill e. Executive Orders, February 23, 1986 to July 26,
Bills passed by congress authenticated by the Speaker and 1987.
the Senate President and approved by the President
Importing absolute verity and is binding on the courts
Cite as: Exec. Order No. _____ (year)
o It carries on its face a solemn assurance that it was Example: Exec. Order No. 329 (1950), 46 O.G.
passed by the assembly by the legislative and 2035 (July 1950)
executive departments. f. Republic Acts 1946 to 1972; July 27, 1987 to date.
Courts cannot go behind the enrolled act to discover what Cite as: Rep. Act No. ____ (year of effectivity),
really happened
o If only for respect to the legislative and executive Volume
departments
Thus, if there has been any mistake in the printing of the bill
before it was certified by the officer of the assembly and
approved by the Chief Executive, the remedy is by
amendment by enacting a curative legislation not by judicial
decree.
Enrolled bill and legislative journals - Conclusive upon the
courts
If there is discrepancy between enrolled bill and journal,
enrolled bill prevails.
Withdrawal of authentication, effect of
Speaker and Senate President may withdraw if there is
discrepancy between the text of the bill as deliberated and
the enrolled bill.
Effect:
o Nullifies the bill as enrolled
o Losses absolute verity
o Courts may consult journals

1. Constitution
The Constitution is cited by reference to article,
section and paragraph. When the Constitution is
no longer in force, put the year in parenthesis.
Examples: CONST. (1935), art. III, sec. 1, par.
(3).
CONST. Art. VII.