Additional Digests
Additional Digests
ISSUE: WON handwritten addendum of Marcos have the force and effect of a law
HELD
The High Court affirmed the appellate courts ruling and found that the handwritten
addendum of Marcos in Proclamation No. 2476 does not have the force and effect of the law
as this portion of the proclamation was not published. Article 2 of the Civil Code expressly
provides that laws take effect after the completion of its publication in the Official Gazette.
As held in Taada v. Tuvera (230 Phil. 528, 533-538 [1986]), the Court said that
publication is an indispensable requirement in order for a law to become effective. The term
law covers presidential decrees, executive orders, local ordinances and others which
invariably affect public interest. The Taada case also held that publication must be in full
or it is no publication at all since its purpose is to inform the public of the contents of the
laws.
Concededly, PD 957 aims to protect innocent lot buyers. Section 18 of the decree
directly addresses the problem of fraud committed against buyers when the lot they
have contracted to purchase, and which they have religiously paid for, is mortgaged
without their knowledge. The avowed purpose of PD 957 compels the reading of
Section 18 as prohibitory -- acts committed contrary to it are void. Such construal
ensures the attainment of the purpose of the law: to protect lot buyers, so that they
do not end up still homeless despite having fully paid for their home lots with their
hard-earned cash.