May posting of a newly enacted law in the Official Online site (http://gov.ph) of the government satisfy the publication requirement of Article 2 of the New Civil Code?
I just visited http://gov.ph and the site's title is: Official Gazette. Based on some articles, this website is the online version of the Official Gazette. The said site was launched on July 26, 2010. In one article, it mentions that the said site aims to "collect all government issuances in one executive site". However, according to Manolo Quezon, a member of the President's Communication Team, "the print version of the Gazette still takes precedence over its electronic counterpart. The online version doesn't supplant the paper version, which is what the law and jurisprudence required. So the Official Gazette online is updated daily, then the weekly edition is printed,".
However, I have a different view to this. The term "Publication" may not only mean being printed. Publication based on dictionaries, is "communication of something to the public." I believe that the online version can be enough to satisfy the requirement of Article 2. Specifically, the part that says "Laws shall take effect after fifteen days following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette..." As long as it is in the Official Gazette whether online or printed, the publication has been satisfied. Also, the e-commerce law, allows this. The Government can do transactions electronically. THe government is using diffrent mediums to communicate to the public. The online version is more accesible since the Internet is catering to most of the Filipinos nowadays. Those in the provinces are slowly having access with internet and technology.
Although this is still debatable, it may be best that a certain law be passed to avoid the ambiguity in its interpretation. It can also be raised in our Highest Tribunal but a case over this is yet to be filed so as to know whether online publication on the digitial version of the Official Gazette is enough to mean that the requirement of publication in Article 2 has been satisfied.
