WHEN LAW TAKES EFFECT

NCC 2
● Article 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. (1a)

REVISED ADMINISTRATIVE CODE SEC 18-24:

CHAPTER 5 (OPERATION AND EFFECT OF LAWS)
● Section 18. When Laws Take Effect. - Laws shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following
the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general
circulation, unless it is otherwise provided.
● Section 19. Prospectivity. - Laws shall have prospective effect unless the contrary is
expressly provided.
● Section 20. Interpretation of Laws and Administrative Issuances. - In the interpretation of
a law or administrative issuance promulgated in all the official languages, the English text shall
control, unless otherwise specifically provided. In case of ambiguity, omission or mistake, the
other texts may be consulted.
● Section 21. No Implied Revival of Repealed Law.- When a law which expressly repeals a
prior law itself repealed, the law first repealed shall not be thereby revived unless expressly so
provided.
● Section 22. Revival of Law Impliedly Repealed. - When a law which impliedly repeals a
prior law is itself repealed, the prior law shall thereby be revived, unless the repealing law
provides otherwise.
● Section 23. Ignorance of the Law. - Ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance
therewith.
●
CHAPTER 6: OFFICIAL GAZETTE
● Section 24. Contents. - There shall be published in the Official Gazette all legislative acts
and resolutions of a public nature; all executive and administrative issuances of general
application; decisions or abstracts of decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals,
or other courts of similar rank, as may be deemed by said courts of sufficient importance to be
so published; such documents or classes of documents as may be required so to be published
by law; and such documents or classes of documents as the President shall determine from
time to time to have general application or which he may authorize so to be published.

● The publication of any law, resolution or other official documents in the Official Gazette shall
be prima facie evidence of its authority. lawphi1.net

EXECUTIVE ORDER 200, SEC. 2 June 18, 1987

● EO NO. 200 June 18, 1987: PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLICATION OF LAWS EITHER IN THE
OFFICIAL GAZETTE OR IN A NEWSPAPER OF GENERAL CIRCULATION IN THE
PHILIPPINES AS A REQUIREMENT FOR THEIR EFFECTIVITY
● WHEREAS, Article 2 of the Civil Code partly provides that "laws shall take effect after fifteen days
following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette, unless it is otherwise provided .
. .;"
● WHEREAS, the requirement that for laws to be effective only a publication thereof in the Official
Gazette will suffice has entailed some problems, a point recognized by the Supreme Court in
Tañada. et al. vs. Tuvera, et al. (G.R. No. 63915, December 29, 1986) when it observed that "[t]here
is much to be said of the view that the publication need not be made in the Official Gazette,
considering its erratic release and limited readership";
● WHEREAS, it was likewise observed that "[u]ndoubtedly, newspapers of general circulation could
better perform the function of communicating the laws to the people as such periodicals are more
easily available, have a wider readership, and come out regularly"; and
● WHEREAS, in view of the foregoing premises Article 2 of the Civil Code should accordingly be
amended so the laws to be effective must be published either in the Official Gazette or in a
newspaper of general circulation in the country;
● NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the
powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order:
● Sec. 1. Laws shall take effect after fifteen days following the completion of their publication
either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines, unless it is
otherwise provided.
● Sec. 2. Article 2 of Republic Act No. 386, otherwise known as the "Civil Code of the
Philippines," and all other laws inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby repealed or
modified accordingly.
● Sec. 3. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately after its publication in the Official
Gazette.
● Done in the City of Manila, this 18th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and
eighty-seven.

IGNORANCE OF THE LAW

NCC 3
● Article 3. Ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith. (2)

RETROACTIVITY OF LAWS
NCC 4
● Article 4. Laws shall have no retroactive effect unless the contrary is provided. (3)

NCC 2252-2269: Transitional Provisions

● Article 2252. Changes made and new provisions and rules laid down by this Code which may
prejudice or impair vested or acquired rights in accordance with the old legislation shall have no
retroactive effect.
● For the determination of the applicable law in cases which are not specified elsewhere in
this Code, the following articles shall be observed: (Pars. 1 and 2, Transitional Provisions).
● Article 2253. The Civil Code of 1889 and other previous laws shall govern rights originating, under
said laws, from acts done or events which took place under their regime, even though this Code
may regulate them in a different manner, or may not recognize them. But if a right should be
declared for the first time in this Code, it shall be effective at once, even though the act or event
which gives rise thereto may have been done or may have occurred under prior legislation, provided
said new right does not prejudice or impair any vested or acquired right, of the same origin. (Rule
1)
● Article 2254. No vested or acquired right can arise from acts or omissions which are against the
law or which infringe upon the rights of others. (n)
● Article 2255. The former laws shall regulate acts and contracts with a condition or period, which
were executed or entered into before the effectivity of this Code, even though the condition or period
may still be pending at the time this body of laws goes into effect. (n)
● Article 2256. Acts and contracts under the regime of the old laws, if they are valid in accordance
therewith, shall continue to be fully operative as provided in the same, with the limitations
established in these rules. But the revocation or modification of these acts and contracts after the
beginning of the effectivity of this Code, shall be subject to the provisions of this new body of laws.
(Rule 2a)

RPC 22
● Article 22. Retroactive effect of penal laws. - Penal Laws shall have a retroactive effect insofar as
they favor the persons guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual criminal, as this term is defined in
Rule 5 of Article 62 of this Code, although at the time of the publication of such laws a final
sentence has been pronounced and the convict is serving the same.

FAMILY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES 256

● Art. 256. This Code shall have retroactive effect insofar as it does not prejudice or impair vested
or acquired rights in accordance with the Civil Code or other laws.

MANDATORY OR PROHIBITORY LAWS

NCC 5 & 17 (3)
● Article 5. Acts executed against the provisions of mandatory or prohibitory laws shall be void,
except when the law itself authorizes their validity. (4a)
● Article 17. The forms and solemnities of contracts, wills, and other public instruments shall be
governed by the laws of the country in which they are executed.
● When the acts referred to are executed before the diplomatic or consular officials of the Republic
of the Philippines in a foreign country, the solemnities established by Philippine laws shall be
observed in their execution.
● **Prohibitive laws concerning persons, their acts or property, and those which have for their object
public order, public policy and good customs shall not be rendered ineffective by laws or judgments
promulgated, or by determinations or conventions agreed upon in a foreign country. (11a)

WAIVER OF RIGHTS
● NCC 6
○ Article 6. Rights may be waived, unless the waiver is contrary to law, public order, public
policy, morals, or good customs, or prejudicial to a third person with a right recognized by
law. (4a)
● NCC 2035
● Article 2035. No compromise upon the following questions shall be valid:
○ (1) The civil status of persons;
○ (2) The validity of a marriage or a legal separation;
○ (3) Any ground for legal separation;
○ (4) Future support;
○ (5) The jurisdiction of courts;
○ (6) Future legitime. (1814a)

REPEAL OF LAWS

NCC 7
● Article 7. Laws are repealed only by subsequent ones, and their violation or non-observance shall
not be excused by disuse, or custom or practice to the contrary.
● When the courts declared a law to be inconsistent with the Constitution, the former shall be void
and the latter shall govern.
● Administrative or executive acts, orders and regulations shall be valid only when they are not
contrary to the laws or the Constitution. (5a)

Constitution Art XVIII, Sec 3

● SECTION 3. All existing laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, letters of instructions, and
other executive issuances not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative until
amended, repealed, or revoked.
●
Family Code 254
○ Art. 254. Titles III, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, XI, and XV of Book 1 of Republic Act No. 386, otherwise
known as the Civil Code of the Philippines, as amended, and Articles 17, 18, 19, 27, 28,
29, 30, 31, 39, 40, 41, and 42 of Presidential Decree No. 603, otherwise known as the Child
and Youth Welfare Code, as amended, and all laws, decrees, executive orders,
proclamations, rules and regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent herewith are hereby
repealed.

STARE DECISIS

NCC 8
● Article 8. Judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the Constitution shall form a part of
the legal system of the Philippines. (n)
DUTY TO RENDER JUDGMENT

NCC 9 & 10
● Article 9. No judge or court shall decline to render judgment by reason of the silence, obscurity or
insufficiency of the laws. (6)
● Article 10. In case of doubt in the interpretation or application of laws, it is presumed that the
lawmaking body intended right and justice to prevail. (n)

RPC 5
● Article 5. Duty of the court in connection with acts which should be repressed but which are not
covered by the law, and in cases of excessive penalties. - Whenever a court has knowledge of any
act which it may deem proper to repress and which is not punishable by law, it shall render the
proper decision, and shall report to the Chief Executive, through the Department of Justice, the
reasons which induce the court to believe that said act should be made the subject of legislation.
● In the same way, the court shall submit to the Chief Executive, through the Department of Justice,
such statement as may be deemed proper, without suspending the execution of the sentence, when
a strict enforcement of the provisions of this Code would result in the imposition of a clearly
excessive penalty, taking into consideration the degree of malice and the injury caused by the
offense.