1.

Issue:

Whether or not a publication shall be made in publications of general circulation.

Petitiners
Invoking the people's right to be informed
on matters of public concern, petitioners
seek a writ of mandamus to compel
respondent public officials to publish, and/or
cause the publication in the Official Gazette
of various presidential decrees, letters of
instructions, general orders, proclamations,
executive orders, letter of implementation
and administrative orders.
subject of the petition concerns a public
right and its object is to compel the
performance of a public duty,

Respondents
case dismissed outright on
the ground that petitioners
have no legal personality

Court
Severino vs. Governor General,
a writ of mandamus would be granted to a private individual only in those cases where he
has some private or particular interest
when the question is one of public right and the object of the mandamus is to procure the
enforcement of a public duty, the people are regarded as the real party in interest

Respondents further
contend that publication in
the Official Gazette is not a
sine qua non requirement
for the effectivity of laws
where the laws themselves
provide for their own
effectivity dates.
Civil Code
Art. 2. Laws shall take effect
after fifteen days following
the completion of their
publication in the Official
Gazette, unless it is
otherwise provided, ...

The clause unless it is otherwise provided refers to the date of effectivity and
not to the requirement of publication itself, which cannot in any event be
omitted. This clause does not mean that the legislature may make the law
effective immediately upon approval, or in any other date, without its previous
publication.
Thus, Section 1 of Commonwealth Act 638 provides as follows:
Section 1. There shall be published in the Official Gazette
[1] all legisiative acts and resolutions of a public nature of Congress
[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 docs or classes of docs as may be required so to be published by law;
[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. ... all presidential issuances "of a public nature" or "of general applicability" is mandated by
law.
It is needless to add that the publication of presidential issuances "of a 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.