SECOND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
THIRD SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Manila on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of January, nineteen hundred and forty-one
COMMONWEALTH ACT NO. 638
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE UNIFORM PUBLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE.
Be it enacted by the National Assembly of the Philippines:
SECTION 1. There shall be published in the Official Gazette (1) all important legislative acts and resolutions of a public nature of the Congress of the Philippines; (2) all executive and administrative orders and proclamations, except such as have no general applicability; (3) decisions or abstracts of decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals as may be deemed by said courts of sufficient importance to be so published; (4) such documents or classes of documents as may be required so to be published by law; and (5) such documents or classes of documents as the President of the Philippines shall determine from time to time to have general applicability and legal effect, or which he may authorize so to be published: Provided, That for the purpose of this section every order or document which shall prescribe a penalty shall be deemed to have general applicability and legal effect: And provided, further, That the term “document” as used in this section shall include any order, regulation, rule, certificate, license, notice, or similar instrument issued, prescribed, or promulgated by any executive department, bureau, office, commission, independent board, agency, or instrumentality of the administrative branch of the Government, but not the legislative or judicial branch of the Government.
SEC. 2. The Director of Printing is authorized to publish the Official Gazette as frequently as the public interest of the Government may require; to appoint, with the approval of the proper department head, such personnel as may be necessary, in addition to that at present employed in the Bureau of Printing, for carrying out the provisions hereof; and to make and collect charges for subscriptions to the Official Gazette and for publications published therein which shall by law be payable by the person interested. The Official Gazette shall be edited in the Executive Office and shall be published in the English language, but edition in Spanish may also be issued if the interest of the service to be determined by the President of the Philippines so requires it. The sale and distribution of the Official Gazette shall also be effected by the Bureau of Printing which shall promptly mail copies thereof to subscribers free of postage. At the end of each quarter, an index shall be supplied as a part of the Official Gazette. The index published at the end of the last quarter shall be complete for the entire year.
SEC. 3. Each department, bureau, office, and agency or instrumentality of the National Government, as well as each provincial, city, and municipal government, shall subscribe to the Official Gazette and pay for the same out of their respective funds. The Official Gazette shall be filed and properly kept with the public records of the department, bureau, office, agency or instrumentality, province, city, or municipality concerned for references.
SEC. 4. Such funds as may have been appropriated for the publication of the Official Gazette are continued to be available to carry out the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved,
(Sgd.) JOSE YULO
Speaker of the National Assembly
This Act was passed by the National Assembly on May 22, 1941.
(Sgd.) NARCISO PIMENTEL
Secretary of the National Assembly
Approved at 9:58 a.m., June 10, 1941:
(Sgd.) MANUEL L. QUEZON
Source: Original Signed Copy, Malacañang Records Office
