Biyernes, Disyembre 9, 2011

Internet-Based Official Gazette is Not Valid


Section 1 of Commonwealth Act 638 provides that:
There shall be published in the Official Gazette [1] all important legislative acts and resolutions of a public nature of the, Congress of the Philippines; [2] all executive and administrative orders and proclamations, except such as have no general applicability; [3] decisions or abstracts of decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals as may be deemed by said courts of sufficient importance to be so published; [4] such documents or classes of documents as may be required so to be published by law; and [5] such documents or classes of documents as the President of the Philippines shall determine from time to time to have general applicability and legal effect, or which he may authorize so to be published. ...

The clear object of the above-quoted 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 "ignorantia legis non excusat." It would be the height of injustice to punish or otherwise burden a citizen for the transgression of a law of which he had no notice whatsoever, not even a constructive one (TaƱada vs. Tuvera, 136 SCRA 27).

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. As Justice Claudio Teehankee said in Peralta vs. COMELEC, 82 SCRA 30:
In a time of proliferating decrees, orders and letters of instructions which all form part of the law of the land, the requirement of due process and the Rule of Law demand that the Official Gazette as the official government repository promulgate and publish the texts of all such decrees, orders and instructions so that the people may know where to obtain their official and specific contents.

Section 1 of Executive Order No. 200 provides that “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.”


Considering the jurisprudence and law stated above, the accessibility of laws to all citizens is the primary concern. The issue on whether an internet-based Official Gazette is valid largely depends on citizens’ accessibility to internet. To make the citizens knowledgeable of the laws is the rationale behind the enactment of E.O. No. 200. Our legislators believe that newspapers of general circulation is an effective means to disseminate any newly enacted laws since newspapers are cheap. Therefore, it is but important to first consider how accessible internet is to every citizen. If it will just decrease citizens’ accessibility to laws because not all Filipinos can afford internet access at computer shops, much less own a computer set with internet access, then it would be unwise and unpractical to enact such a law making Official Gazette internet-based.

Walang komento:

Mag-post ng isang Komento