Pesigan vs Angeles Case Digest

Facts: Anselmo L. Pesigan and Marcelo L. Pesigan, carabao dealers, transported in an Isuzu ten-wheeler truck in the evening of April 2, 1982 twenty-six carabaos and a calf from Sipocot, Camarines Sur with Padre Garcia, Batangas. In spite of the permit to transport and the said four certificates, the carabaos, while passing at Basud, Camarines Norte, were confiscated and The confiscation was basis on the aforementioned Executive Order No. 626-A, and in pursuant to the order, distributed the carabaos among twenty-five farmers of Basud, and to a farmer from the Vinzons municipal nursery. The Pesigans then filed an action to recover the carabaos and sue for damages. Judge Domingo Medina Angeles who heard the case dismissed the case for lack of cause of action.  




Issue: Whether the said Executive Order applies to the Pesigans?




Held: The Court agrees that said executive order should not be enforced against the Pesigans on April 2, 1982 because, as already noted, it is a penal regulation published more than two months later in the Official Gazette dated June 14, 1982. It became effective only fifteen days thereafter as provided in article 2 of the Civil Code. Publication is necessary to apprise the public of the contents of the regulations and make the said penalties binding on the persons affected thereby.