Date of Effectivity of Laws

When a law is being made, either by the president's signing of a bill, the overriding of his veto by both houses of Congress, or by the president's inaction, the next step is its publication. The general rule is that laws take effect fifteen (15) days after their publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

The Official Gazette is the official publication of the Philippine Government.

Going back, if the law hasn't been published it means that it isn't effective yet. Even if the date of the signing appears on the text of the law, so long as it isn't published yet, it hasn't taken effect. This is why a law may be published several months after it was made. Take the BMBE Law, for instance; it was signed by President Arroyo into law in 2002 but published in 2003. The exception to the rule is that if the law provided a different effectivity date. It may be that a law would state that it would take effect several months (or years!) from signing. It could even, if specified, take effect on the date of signature. If no such provision appears, the 15-day rule applies. If this rule is violated, such as in the enforcement of an unpublished law that doesn't specify a particular date of effectivity, the enforcement of such law would violate the constitutional right to due process.