Scribd
Upload
28 views1 page

Tanada Vs Tuvera

Tanada v. Tuvera, 136 SCRA 27 Petitioners filed a writ of mandamus to compel public officials to publish various presidential decrees, orders, and proclamations in the Official Gazette. The Solicitor General argued the petitioners did not have legal standing. The court held that under the Civil Code and the Official Gazette Act, laws and statutes must be published in the Official Gazette to be valid and enforceable. The publication requirement gives citizens adequate notice of laws regulating their actions and conduct. Without notice of these laws, citizens could not be punished for violating laws they were unaware of. Presidential issuances of general applicability that are not published have no force or effect.

Uploaded by

Anonymous MmbSn3
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
28 views1 page

Tanada Vs Tuvera

Tanada v. Tuvera, 136 SCRA 27 Petitioners filed a writ of mandamus to compel public officials to publish various presidential decrees, orders, and proclamations in the Official Gazette. The Solicitor General argued the petitioners did not have legal standing. The court held that under the Civil Code and the Official Gazette Act, laws and statutes must be published in the Official Gazette to be valid and enforceable. The publication requirement gives citizens adequate notice of laws regulating their actions and conduct. Without notice of these laws, citizens could not be punished for violating laws they were unaware of. Presidential issuances of general applicability that are not published have no force or effect.

Uploaded by

Anonymous MmbSn3
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Tanada v.

Tuvera, 136 SCRA 27

Publication in the Official Gazette (Enforceability of a Statute)

FACTS:
Invoking the right of the people to be informed on matters of public concern as well as
the principle that laws to be valid and enforceable must be published in the Official
Gazette, petitioners filed for writ of mandamus to compel respondent public officials to
publish and/or cause to publish various presidential decrees, letters of instructions,
general orders, proclamations, executive orders, letters of implementations and
administrative orders.
The Solicitor General, representing the respondents, moved for the dismissal of the
case, contending that petitioners have no legal personality to bring the instant petition.

ISSUE:
Whether or not publication in the Official Gazette is required before any law or statute
becomes valid and enforceable.

HELD:
Art. 2 of the Civil Code do not preclude the requirement of publication in the Official
Gazette, even if the law itself provides for the date of its effectivity. The clear object of
this 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 ignoratia legis nominem
excusat. It would be the height of injustive to punish or otherwise burden a citizen for
the transgression of a law which he had no notice whatsoever, not even a constructive
one.
The very first clause of Section 1 of CA 638 reads: there shall be published in the
Official Gazette. The word shall therein imposes upon respondent officials an
imperative duty. That duty must be enforced if the constitutional right of the people to be
informed on matter of public concern is to be given substance and validity.
The publication of presidential issuances of 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
declared that presidential issuances of general application which have not been
published have no force and effect.

You might also like