any jurisprudence on the the words "shall contact" and "solicit?"?

Question

in one of our laws in the philippines(PD198), "Sec. 10. Nominations. On or before October 1of each even-numbered year, the secretary of the district SHALL CONTACT each known organization, association, or institution being represented by the director whose term will expire on December 31 and SOLICIT NOMINATIONS from these organizations to fill the position for the ensuing term,"

the issue is instead of sending out letters requesting nomination the secretary of the district published it in a newspaper thereby assuring that only their identified and favored organizations were able to submit nominees. would publication suffice the requirement of "shall contact" and "solicit?"
american jurisprudence is similar to philippine jurisprudence. tnx.

Answer 1

As an average person, this rule reads to me that "shall
CONTACT EACH" means to contact the organizations individually.

If the requirement was only to "solicit the public" perhaps the published notice may have sufficed.

But since the instructions are to "contact each" organization and "solicit" nominations "FROM THESE organizations" this implies that those organizations mentioned should be contacted by the secretary -- instead of merely soliciting the public in general -- for the specific purpose of requesting nominations from them.

It seems quite clear that the secretary failed (1) to contact each organization if any group reported not being contacted and (2) to solicit nominations from these organizations if any reported not being asked.

I would recommend that each organization that was not contacted or solicited write a letter stating this neglect of written requirements, so there is documentation in writing of these omissions. I would ask the help of either a mediator or legal consultant to meet with the members affected to facilitate a correction or solution to the problem this caused.

Answer 2

Legally, " shall contact" and "solicit" is not achieved through publication because letters should be sent out to the organizations regarding nominations. However, if nobody objects to the procedure, it becomes a waiver and the publication will suffice.