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persuasiveness.Withregardstocommentariesorbooks,treatise,
PrimaryAuthorityistheonlyauthoritythatisbindingonthecourts.
writings,journalarticles,thereputationorexpertiseoftheauthorisa
consideration.Someoftheauthorsofgoodreputationandconsidered
ClassificationbyAuthority
expertsinthefieldareChiefJusticeRamonC.AquinoandJustice
Authorityisthatwhichmaybecitedinsupportofanaction,theoryor
CarolinaGrinoAquinoonRevisedPenalCodeorCriminalLaw,Senator
hypothesis.Legalofmaterialsprimaryauthorityarethosethatcontain
ArturoM.TolentinoonCivillaw,ChiefJusticeEnriqueM.Fernando
actuallaworthosethatcontainlawcreatedbygovernment.Eachofthe
andFr.JoaquinBernasonConstitutionalLaw,Prof.PerfectoFernandez
threebranchesofgovernment:Legislative,ExecutiveandJudiciary,
onLaborLaw,VicenteFrancisco,ChiefJusticeManuelMoranon
promulgateslaws.
RemedialLaw,andJusticeVicenteAbadSantosandSenatorJovito
SalongaonInternationalLaw,etc.
Thelegislaturepromulgatesstatutes,namely:Act,CommonwealthAct,
RepublicAct,BatasPambansa.Executivepromulgatespresidential
ClassificationbySource
issuances(PresidentialDecrees,ExecutiveOrders,Memorandum
Itisimportantforlegalresearchexpertstoknowthesourcewherethe
Circular,AdministrativeOrders,Proclamations,etc.),rulesand
materialsweretakenfrom.Onehastodeterminewhethertheycame
regulationsthroughitsvariousdepartments,bureausandagencies.The
fromprimary(official)sourcesorsecondary(unofficialsources).
Judiciarypromulgatesjudicialdoctrinesembodiedindecisions.We
Primaryandsecondarysourcesforthesourcesoflawarefoundinthe
howeverneedtoclarifythatthePresidentialDecreesorlawissuedby
PhilippineLegalInformationResourcesandCitationssectionpartII
PresidentFerdinandE.MarcosduringMartialLawandExecutive
ofthe2009Update.
OrdersissuedbyAquinoPresidentCorazonC.Aquinobeforethe
openingCongressinJuly1987canbeclassifiedaslegislativeacts,there
Primarysourcesarethosepublishedbytheissuingagencyitselforthe
beingnolegislatureduringthesetwoperiods.
officialrepository,theOfficialGazette.TheOfficialGazetteonlinewas
launchedbytheOfficeofthePresidentinJuly2010.Thisonlineversion
PrimaryAuthorityorsourcesmaybefurthersubdividedintothe
ismaintainedandmanagedbythePresidentialCommunications
following:
DevelopmentandStrategicManagementOffice..Thus,forRepublic
Mandatoryprimaryauthorityislawcreatedbythejurisdictionin
Actsandotherlegislativeenactmentsorstatutes,theprimarysourcesare
whichthelawoperateslikethePhilippines;
theOfficialGazettepublishedbytheNationalPrintingOfficeandthe
Persuasivemandatoryauthorityislawcreatedbyotherjurisdictions
LawsandResolutionspublishedbyCongress.ForSupremeCourt
butwhichhavepersuasivevaluetoourcourtse.g.SpanishandAmerican
decisions,theprimarysourcesarethePhilippineReports,the
lawsandjurisprudence.Thesesourcesasusedspeciallywhenthereare
individuallymimeographedAdvanceSupremeCourtdecisionsandthe
noPhilippineauthoritiesavailableorwhenthePhilippinestatuteor
OfficialGazette.PublicationofSupremeCourtdecisionsintheOfficial
jurisprudenceunderinterpretationisbasedoneithertheSpanishor
Gazetteisselective.ThepublicationofthePhilippineReportsbythe
Americanlaw;
NationalPrintingOfficeceasedin1960s.Itwasonlyin1983whenthe
ItisinthisregardthatthecollectionsoflawlibrariesinthePhilippines
publicationofthePhilippineReportswasrevivedbythenChiefJustice
includeUnitedStatescourtreports,Westsnationalreportersystem,
EnriqueM.FernandowhorequestedthenPresidentFerdinandE.Marcos
courtreportsofEnglandandinternationaltribunal,importantreference
totakechargeofitspublicationwithspecialappropriationinthe
materialssuchastheAmericanJurisprudence,CorpusJurisSecundum,
Judiciarysannualbudget.However,whentheSupremeCourttookover
WordsandPhrasesanddifferentlawdictionaries.Someoftheselaw
theprintingin1983,thedelayinprintingcoveredmorethantwenty(20)
librariessubscribetotheWestlawand/orLexisNexis.TheSupreme
years.Thelastvolumeprintedwasvolume126(June1967).The
Court,UniversityofthePhilippines,UniversityofSantoTomasanda
PhilippineReportsisuptodateandalmostcompletefrom1901.The
numberofprominentlawlibrariesalsohaveaSpanishcollectionwhere
volumesremaintobeprintedcoverJune1991December1994.Online,
agreatnumberofourlawsoriginated.
theSupremeCourtELibraryiscompleteandupdatedassoonasthe
decisionshavebeencertifiedbytheChiefJustice.
Secondaryauthorityorsourcesarecommentariesorbooks,treatise,
writings,journalarticlesthatexplain,discussorcommentonprimary
TheSecondarySourcesaretheunofficialsourcesandgenerally
authorities.Alsoincludedinthiscategoryaretheopinionsofthe
referredtoasthosecommerciallypublishedorthosethatarenot
DepartmentofJustice,SecuritiesandExchangeCommissionorcirculars
publishedbygovernmentagenciesorinstrumentalities.
oftheBangkoSentralngPilipinas.Thesematerialsarenotbindingon
courtsbuttheyhavepersuasiveeffectand/orthedegreeof
SomeoftheSecondarysourcesofstatutesaretheVitalLegal
CourtanditsOfficesandtheAppellateCourtsarefoundintheJudiciary
Documents,publishedbytheCentralBookSupply,containsa
portal.
compilationofPresidentialDecrees(1973).Thesecondeditioncontains
RepublicActs.Prof.SulpicioGuevarapublishedthreebooks,which
CDAsiaonlinecontainsfulltextofSupremeCourtdecisionsand
containsthefulltextoflegislativeenactmentsorlawsnamely:a).
statutes,availableonasubscriptionbasis.Subscriptionmaybemade
PublicLawsAnnotated(7vols.),compilationofalllawsfrom1901to
solelyforcourtdecisionsorstatutesorforboth.Therearetwoother
1935,b).CommonwealthActsAnnotated(3vos.),compilationoflaws
sourcesforelectronicfulltextdecisionsofthePhilippineSupreme
from19351945c).TheLawsoftheFirstPhilippineRepublic(The
Court:1)FluxfunLarcandCentralBookseSCRA.Bothcanbe
LawsofMalolos)18981899.FortheSupremeCourtdecisions,
accessedonlinewiththeuseofdesktops,laptops,notebooks,andipads.
SupremeCourtReportsAnnotated(SCRA),asecondarysource,
FluxfunLarcisonopenaccesswhileeSCRAisforsubscription.
publishedbytheCentralBookSupplyismoreupdatedandpopularin
thelegalcommunitythanthePhilippineReports,theprimaryand
ByusingGooglesearch,someofthislegalinformationmaybe
officialsource.TheSCRAwaspublishedbecauseofthedelayinthe
retrieved.
printingofthePhilippinesandtheneedofthePhilippinelegalprofession
Theestablishedpolicyisthatincaseofconflictbetweentheprintedand
forSupremeCourtdecision.Citationsincommentariesorbooks,
electronicsources,theprintedversioncomingfromtheissuing
treatise,writings,journalarticles,pleadingandevencourtdecisions
governmentagencyprevails.
showSCRAspopularacceptance.Thegeneralruleisthatintheabsence
ofaprimarysource,thesecondarysourcemaybecited.Thiswasthe
LegalresearchforstatutelawinthePhilippinesbenefitedremarkably
primaryrationalefortheSCRAspopularity.SCRAisnowavailable
fromtheuseofthelatesttechnologyduetotwomajorproblems:a)no
online(includingtabletandipad)bysubscription.
completeandupdatedpublishedorprintedsearchtoolsorlawfindersfor
statutelawandb)nocompletecompilationofstatutelawfrom1901
Withtheadventofthenewinformationtechnology,electronicor
presentwereavailable.Problemsofthepublicationofcompilationsof
digitizedsourcesarepopularsourcesandeffectivesourcesoflegal
statutelawortheexistenceofthefulltextofPresidentialDecreeswas
informationforthefollowingreasons:a)nocompleteandupdatedlegal
thatbroughtabouttotheSupremeCourtintheTanadav.Tuvera,G.R.
informationavailable;b)thesearchenginesutilizingtheelectronicor
No.63915,April24,1985(220Phil422),December29,1986(146
digitizedmethodfacilitateresearch,andc)nocompleteandupdate
SCRA446)casewasresolvedbytheuseofthelatesttechnology.The
manuallypublishedsearchtoolsforstatuteandcaselaw.These
Tanadav.Tuvera,casethatwasfirstdecidedbeforethebloodless
electronicsourcesstartedwithCDROMSandnowonlineorelectronic
revolutionpopularlyknownasPeoplePowerortheEDSARevolution
libraries.Thepopularuseofonline/electroniclibrarieswasduetothe
andmodifiedintheDecember29,1986orafterthePeoplePowerorthe
adventoftheipads,ipods,tabletandnotebooksandinternetwithwifi
EDSARevolutionresolvedthepublicationrequirementforthe
connection.OnlineaccessiseitherthroughOpenaccessorsubscription
effectivityoflawsasprovidedforinSection2oftheCivilCodeofthe
basis.Openaccessforlawisusedforboththegovernmentandthe
Philippines.
privatesector.TheChanRoblesLawFirmLibraryandArellanoLaw
FoundationLawphiluseopenaccessintheirelectroniclibraries,which
Still,withregardstoStatuteLawinthePhilippines,theotherproblemis
containsthefulltextofallsourcesofPhilippinelegalinformation,case
howtoclassifysourcespublishedinthenewspapers.Since1987,based
lawandstatutelaw.Chanrobles.comhasalsoinitsdatabasethefulltext
onthedefinitionofprimaryandsecondarysource,theymaybe
ofUnitedStatesdecisionsandmaterialsonimportantlegaleventssuch
consideredasprimarysourcespursuanttoExecutiveOrderNo.200,s.
asImpeachmentproceedings,barexaminations.ChanRoblesconducts
1987thatprovidesthatlawsbecomeeffectivefifteen(15)daysafter
onlinebarreviewprogram.Officialorgovernmentonlinesourcefor
publicationintheOfficialGazetteorintwonewspapersofgeneral
fulltextforalllegalsourcesandrelatedmaterialsintheOfficialGazette
circulation.Incaseofconflictbetweenthetwoversions,theversionof
online,launchedinJuly2010.Itcontainstheissuancesofallthe
theOfficialGazetteholds.
executivedepartments,whicharefoundalsointhewebsitesofthe
differentexecutivedepartments.Theyaim(asreflectedintheirwebsite)
Theexistence,availabilityandaccesstolocalordinancesissuedbythe
toincludetheissuancesofthelegislativeandthejudiciary.TheSupreme
localgovernmentsinthePhilippinesremainsaproblem.
CourtELibraryisanelectroniclibrary(onlineandCDromfor
decisionsupdatedquarterly)forallPhilippinelegalinformation,case
Infindingthelaw,ourultimategoalistolocatemandatoryprimary
lawandstatutelaw.AccesshoweverislimitedtotheJustices,judges
authorities,whichhavebearingonthelegalproblemathand.Ifthese
andcourtattorneysoftheSupremeCourtandlawschools(byrequest)
authoritiesarescarceornonexistent,ournextalternativeistofindany
throughtheirlawlibrarians.DecisionsandissuancesoftheSupreme
relevantpersuasivemandatoryauthority.Ifoursearchisstillnegative,
thenextalternativemightbesecondaryauthorities.Therearehowever
persuasivemandatoryauthorities.Withtheavailabilityofboth,using
instanceswherethesecondaryauthorities,moreparticularlythe
bothsourcesishighlyrecommended.
commentariesmadebyexpertsofthefield,takeprecedenceoverthe