Conclusion of Fact - inference drawn from the subordinate or evidentiary facts.
Conclusion of Law – legal inference on a question of law. It is by application of the artificial
rules of law to the facts pleaded.
Allegation - assertion, declaration or statement of a party to an action made in a pleading.
Statement - Person’s oral assertion, written assertion or non-verbal conduct.
To prove or disapprove a contested fact:
-The form of evidence may either be direct or indirect
Allegations as matter of substance -Substantially Prove
Allegations as matter of essential description Must be proved with a degree of strictness,
extending in some cases even to literal precision.
Proof – effect or result of evidence, it is the outcome of adequate evidence.
Distinction between evidence and proof
Proof – is the result of sufficient evidence
*True question in trials of fact is Whether there is sufficient probability of its truth, whether the
facts are shown by competent and satisfactory evidence.
Things established by competent and satisfactory evidence are said to be proved.
Every proof comprehends at least two (2) distinct facts.
1.) Principal fact
-Existence or nonexistence of which is to be proved
2.) Proving fact
- Prove the verity or falsehood of the principal fact.
FACTUM PROBANDS – ULTIMATE FACTS
FACTUM PROBANDUM – EVIDENTIARY FACTS
Rule of Evidence – Mode and manner of proving the competent facts and circumstances in
dispute in judicial procedure.
PURPOSE: To get at the truth, not to suppress it.
Elementary Rule: Individuals and parties litigant CANNOT, by private contract, stipulate rules
of evidence that shall be binding on the courts.
Note: No valid waiver can extend to a rule of evidence anchored on public policy.
GR: No vested right of property in rules of evidence.
3 Conceptions as to what constitutes TRUTH:
1.) Agreement of thought and reality
2.) eventual verification and
3.) consistency of thought with itself
Courts of Justice – The truth was described as substantive truth or actual truth
*Truth and falsity are properties of claims
Matter of Fact - Refers to the existence of which is determined by the sense or by reasoning
based upon the evidence.
Note: Stress is merely the response to physical or psychological demands on a person. Even
positive stimuli can become stressors. Stress, challenge and adversity are the natural state of
things when a problematic incident is revealed and begs to be addressed. Different individuals
react to stress differently and some people react to stress by getting sick. Stress is as much as a
matter of psychological perception as it is of physiological reaction. (Philippine Span Asia
Carriers Corporation vs. Pelayo GR NO. 212003, February 28, 2018)
Judicial and Quasi-Judicial proceedings DEMAND PROOF.
Matter of Law – Refers to the truth or falsity of which is determined by establishing the rules of
law or by reasoning based upon them.
SOURCES OF EVIDENCE:
1. Constitution
2. Substantive Law
3. Procedural Law
1987 PH Constitution
– study of the maintenance of the proper balance between authority as represented by 3 inherent
powers of the State as well as liberty as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
According to Cooley – Constitution is the body of rules and maxims in accordance which the
powers of sovereignty are habitually exercised.
Rules of Evidence:
a. Bill of Rights
b. Art. 8 Section 5(5)
c. Article 8 on the Judicial Department
BILLS OF RIGHTS can only be invoked if there is governmental interference.
-It is not invoked against act of private individuals.
- Comm Bernas said that BOR governs the relationship between the individual and the state. It
declares some forbidden zones in the private sphere inaccessible to any power holder.
IF the search is made upon the request of law enforcers, a warrant must generally be first
secured if it passes the test of constitutionality.
IF the search is made by proprietor of a private establishment for its own purposes without
intervention of police authorities, BOR cannot be invoked.
Section 2 and 3 of Article III of 1987 PH Constitution - can be invoked if it is against State
intrusion
The essence of privacy is the right to be left alone. The constitutional guarantee is not a
prohibition of all searches and seizures. BUT ONLY UNREASONABLE SEARCHES ANS
SEIZURES – to become unreasonable the place of search or seizure in the constitutional sense.
Administrative Search - Appeared to be beyond the context of an unreasonable invasion of
privacy
Unwarranted Inquiry – Attempt to pry on the motive of a Filipino in marrying an alien may
face constitutional challenge under the concept of the right to privacy.
Search of government office computer – THE SC held that:
a.) EEs relationship to the item seized;
b.) Whether the item was in immediate control of the employee when it was seized; and
c.) Whether the employee took actions to maintain his privacy in the item.
*A search of government employer of an employee’s office is justified at inception when
there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that it will turn up evidence that the employee
is guilty of work-related misconduct.
Under O’Connor ruling: A public employer can investigate work-related misconduct so long as
any search is justified at inception and is reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that
justified in in the first place.
Right to be Forgotten (right to erasure)
Page 32 and 33
Private Individual vs. Private Individual.
Art 32 of Civil Code making private violations actionable even if the violation does not have a
constitutional consequence such as the applicability of the exclusionary rule.
Privacy of communication and correspondence - Another form of search is State invasion of
communication and correspondence.
Specific Incorporation of the rule produces two other consequences:
First, it divorces the rule from the self-incrimination clause.
Secondly, For any purpose in the proceeding
SUBSTANTIVE LAW
-Creates, defines and regulates rights as opposed to adjective or remedial law which prescribes
method of enforcing the rights or obtaining the redress for their invasion.
Ra9165 – pages 37 and 38
Sec 21 RA (165 in People v Bintaib is considered a substantive law which cannot be brushed
aside as a simple technicality.
*Non-compliance of Sec21 of RA9165 shall not render void and invalid such seizures and
custody over said items.
PROVIDED the integrity and the evidentiary value of the seized items are properly
preserved by the apprehending officer/team.
The IRR of Chain Custody just not simply mention a justifiable ground but clearly state the
ground in their sworn affidavit.
RA11055 -page 42
Phil Identification Sys Act was approved on Aug 6, 2018. – to provide a valid proof of identity
for all citizens and resident aliens as a means of simplifying public and private transactions.
RA8353 -page 43
Anti-Rape Law
Presumptions – Any physical overt act manifesting resistance against the act of rape in any
degree from the offended party or the offended party is incapable of giving valid consent.
RA9262-page 44
Records pertaining to cases of VAWC including those in barangay shall be confidential.
RA9372 -page44
Human Security Act – referred to surveillance of suspects and interception and recording
communications which can be permitted by the C.A.
RA 8792 – page 45
Electronic Commerce – law accorded validity to an electronic data message, document, signature
and contract based on preconditions therefor.
RA10173 – page 46
Data Privacy Act – intended to protect the fundamental human right of privacy of
communication.
Cybercrime Prevention -page 46
-to regulate access to and use of the cyberspace.
Rule on Cybercrime Warrants
-tackled the venue of criminal actions where to file an application for warrant, incidents related
to the warrant when a criminal action is instituted.
PROCEDURAL RULE
- prescribes the method of enforcing rights or obtains redress for their invasion
-Procedure is composed of 3 grand divisions known respectively as Pleading,
Practice and Evidence.
In Criminal Law
SBL - Declared what acts are crimes and prescribes the punishment for committing
them.
PRL - Provides or regulates the steps by which one who commit a crime is to be
punished.
Revised Guidelines for Continuous Trial of Criminal Cases – page 50
Stipulations between parties shall entail the active participation of the court.
The evidence of the prosecution shall be the sole basis for resolution of Pet for Bail
and presentation of evidence in chief cannot be suspended pending resolution of
Pet for Bail or MR.
Precautionary Hold Departure
-Order in writing issued by the proper RTC upon an evaluation of probable cause
and at the initiative of the prosecutor or NBI, commanding the BI to enjoin any
attempt by a person suspected of a crime to depart from the Phils.
State power over rules of evidence -page 50
No person or corporation has a vested right in the rules of evidence.
Liberal Interpretation of Rules on Evidence – page 53
As a GR: RC shall be liberally construed in order to promote and secure a just,
speedy and inexpensive disposition of every action and proceeding.
RC – tools designed to facilitate the attainment of justice.
Fundamental purpose of procedural rules – to afford every litigant every
opportunity to present evidence in their behalf in order that substantial justice
achieved.
Note: Courts have therefore inherent power to preserve their integrity, maintain
their dignity and to insure effectiveness in the administration of justice.
Principal classification of evidence
1. Object or Real
2. Documentary
3. Testimonial
3 kinds of instruments of evidence are:
a. Witnesses – Persons who inform the tribunal respecting facts
b. Real Evidence – evidence from the things
3. Documents – supplied by material substances which the existence of things is
recorded by conventional marks or symbols.
REAL EVIDENCE
It is evidence of the thing or object which is produced in court or evidence
furnished by things.
It is evidence of which any object belonging to the class of the things is the source.
-Evidence by direct inspection through the court’s physical senses of vision,
hearing, touch, taste or smell or a fact, the existence of which is perceptible to the
senses.
3 Modes by which a tribunal may properly acquire knowledge:
1. Circumstantial evidence – mark left on some substance grasped or carried by the
accused, there is an inference from the circumstance to the thing producing it.
2. Testimonial evidence – belief on the subject would be on the testimony of a
witness
3. Real Evidence - Inference from the impressions or perceptions of the tribunal to
the objective existence of the thing perceived.
Note: If a party fails to produce real evidence, an adverse presumption can
normally flow from the omission which repercussion may likewise apply to
documentary or testimonial evidence.
*autoptic preference in legal parlance means – a tribunal’s self-perception or
autopsy, of the thing itself.
Demonstrative evidence - used to illustrate or explain, it used to add clarity or
vividness to a witness’s testimony.
Physical evidence – Highest order, it speaks more eloquently than a hundred
witnesses.
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE – page 61
Document – as any matter expressed or described upon nay substance by means of
letters, figures or marks or by more than one of the means intended to be used or
which may be used for the purpose of recording that matter.
2 general classes:
a.) Unwritten or oral evidence – testimony given by witnesses either in open
court or before a magistrate acting under its commission or the authority of law.
b.) Written –
*Legal Evidence – not confined to the human voice or oral testimony, includes
tangible object capable of making a truthful statement.
*Documentary Evidence – consists of written instruments offered asp roof of
their contents.
TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE – PAGE 62 (oral evidence)
Testimony - evidence by a competent witness under oath or affirmation, it is part
of judicial evidence which comes to the tribunal through the medium of witnesses
by means of verbal statements.
Testimonial Evidence – testimony in court or the deposition of one who has
observed that to which he is testifying is called Percepient witness
Expert witness – the one who has not observed the facts, nevertheless qualified to
give an opinion relative to such facts.
Qualities: accurate and complete – page 64
TESTIMONY OUGHT TO POSSESS 2 QUALITIES:
Accurate and complete – contain nothing but the truth and the whole truth; just
representation of all the facts essential to the case
TESTIMONY MAY BE INAACURATE IN 2 WAYS:
POSITIVE FALSEHOOD – Witness affirms a fact which did not happen
NEGATIVE FALSEHOOD – Denies a fact which really did happen
Key concepts of evidence - page 64
Relevant evidence - if it has a relation to the fact in issue as to induce belief in its
existence or nonexistence.
Competent evidence – not excluded by law or rule
Material evidence – proves a disputed fact.
Admissible evidence – fusion of relevant and competent evidence
Direct Evidence – established a disputed fact independently of any reasoning nor
inference
Circumstantial evidence – Indirect evidence or relevant collateral facts known as
presumptive evidence.
Direct evidence vs Circumstantial evidence – page 66
Cumulative evidence – same kind for an identical disputed fact
Corroborative evidence – different kind for the same disputed fact
Notes: Jurisprudence dictates that corroborative or cumulative evidence is not
a prerequisite to the conviction of the accused.
Prima Facie evidence – is not rebutted or contradicted making it good and
sufficient on its face.
Conclusive evidence – insuperable or incontrovertible evidence
Primary Evidence - Ordinarily applied to documentary evidence through Best
Evidence Rule
Substitutionary evidence – Secondary evidence in lieu of primary evidence
Hearsay evidence – Derivative evidence since the probative value of the evidence
is dependent on another witness
Self-serving evidence – Extra-judicial evidence which is urged for admission in
court.
Positive evidence – Assertion of the existence or nonexistence of a disputed fact
Negative evidence – Disclaimer of knowledge over a disputed fact
Expert evidence – emanates from a testimonial sponsor with special knowledge,
skill, experience or training.
Rebutting evidence – Denial of some affirmative case or fact which the adverse
party has attempted to prove
Sur-rebuttal evidence – Reply to rebuttal
Additional evidence – Incremental evidence after conclusion of a party’s
evidence-in-chief
SCOPE OF EVIDENCE – p68
Applicable to judicial proceedings and in quasi-judicial proceedings, the rules
hardly apply except by analogy or in a suppletory character and whenever
practicable and convenient.
Administration of Justice – p 69
Involves the exercise of judicial function by the court through determination of
relevant facts of a controversy and application of the law.
Special rules of evidence -p69
Rule 133 Section 5 of RRE guide for the requisite quantum of evidence in cases
before an administrative agency or quasi-judicial body.
Rule-making power
Rules of evidence are not specifically applicable to an administrative agency.
Excepted cases – p72
Shall not apply to land registration, cadastral, election cases, naturalization,
insolvency and other cases not herein provided (Rules of Court)
Admissibility of Evidence - Evidence offered must be logically probative of the
matter to be proved and if it is logically probative, it is legally relevant.
Logically probative – evidence must relate to and be connected with the
transaction it is offered to elucidate . – pg 75
Components
Evidence is admissible if it surpasses the standards of RELEVANCY and
COMPETENCY UNDER Rule 128 Sec. 3 as amended.
The relevance and materiality of evidence which are to be tested with reference to
the pleadings
In the case while a party is not required to plea his evidence, he must allege the
essential ultimate
Facts to support his claim.
Relevancy and Competency – pg 79
Relevancy – if anchored on logic and human experience or common sense.
Competency – determined by the applicable rules that call for repudiation of
evidence due to
a legal proscription.
Offer and objection – pg 80
Before evidence can be considered admissible, it must be formally offered by the
party at the
Appropriate opportunity and it should surpass an exception from the opponent.
Pre-Trial guidelines – see pg 80
JUDAFF – pg81
Collateral Matter – collateral facts those outside the controversy or are not
directly connected with the principal matter or issue in dispute.
-It is not allowed because they draw away the mind of the court from the point in
issue and excite prejudice and mislead it.
Poe vs COMELEC – pg 84 (exception to Collateral Matter)
EVIDENCE CAN BE ADMITTED ON THE BASIS OF CONDITIONAL
ADMISSIBILITY WHICH PRESUPPOSES:
a.) element of good faith accorded by the court to a lawyer who introduces
evidence that appears to be, at first blush, immaterial or irrelevant, with
b.) Concomitant from counsel to relate later the sample of the evidence introduced
with other facts sought to be established.
Multiple admissibility – p89
Purpose for which evidence is offered must be specified because such evidence
may be admissible for several purposes.
Curative admissibility – pg 91
Permits a party to introduce incompetent evidence to equalize the admission by the
court of incompetent evidence presented by the adverse party.
Evidence and weight – pg92
If tested by relevance and competence to the fact in issue, the weight to be attached
to such admitted evidence will depend on judicial appreciation under Rule 133 of
RRE and jurisprudence form the SC.
Admissibility considers factors such as competence and relevance of
submitted evidence.
Weight of Evidence is concerned with the persuasive tendency of admitted
evidence.
Page 100
Judicial Notice
Mandatory
-Sec 1 Rule 129
A court shall take judicial notice w/o introduction of evidence, of the existence and
territorial extent of states
Term government (3 branches of the govt)
Term local level ( regional, provincial, city, municipal and barrio govt)
Permissive
Sec2 Rule 129
A court may take judicial notice which are public knowledge or are capable of
unquestionable demonstration or ought to be known to judges because of their
functions.
*Parties may request for a judicial notice of a particular matter during the pre-trial.
Presentation of Information
To afford the parties reasonable opportunity to present information relevant to the
case.
