Case Digest (G.R. No. 63915)
Facts:
Lorenzo M. Tanada, Abraham F. Sarmiento, and Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism, Inc. (MABINI) v. Hon. Juan C. Tuvera, Hon. Joaquin Venus, Melquiades P. De La Cruz, and Florendo S. Pablo, G.R. No. L-63915, April 24, 1985, the Supreme Court En Banc, Escolin, J., writing for the Court.
Petitioners filed an original petition for a writ of mandamus in the Supreme Court seeking to compel respondent executive officials to publish, or cause the publication in the Official Gazette, numerous presidential issuances (presidential decrees, letters of instructions, general orders, proclamations, executive orders, letters of implementation and administrative orders). The petition listed scores of instruments and sought a judicial declaration ordering publication and declaring unpublished issuances without binding effect.
Respondents, through the Solicitor General, moved to dismiss for lack of legal personality and standing, arguing petitioners were not "aggrieved parties" within the meaning of Section 3, Rule 65, because they failed to show personal or direct prejudice from non-publication. Respondents also contended that publication in the Official Gazette was unnecessary where an issuance itself specified its effectivity date, relying on Article 2 of the Civil Code and prior jurisprudence that effectivity provisions in the law may displace the general 15-day rule.
The Court received a report from the Clerk of Court indicating that, of the decrees listed by petitioners, only Presidential Decrees Nos. 1019–1030, 1278, and 1937–1939 appeared not to have been published; none of these unpublished decrees had been implemented or enforced. The Solicitor General acknowledged that as a matter of policy the government refrains from prosecuting violations of criminal laws until publication in the Official Gazette or other publication.
The Supreme Court resolved the petition directly (no lower-court di...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Do petitioners have legal personality/standing to invoke a writ of mandamus to compel publication of presidential issuances affecting a public right?
- Must presidential issuances of general application be published in the Official Gazette to have binding force and effect, and what is the legal consequence for those not so published?
- If unpublished presidential issuances are declared ineffective, does that declaration operate retroactively to erase all past legal c...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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