PECIAL PROCEEDINGS (Rules 72 – 109)
A. FILIPINO CITIZENS
11. IN TERMS OF WAR WITHIN THE AREA OF MILITARY OPERATION
REMEDIES FROM UNLAWFUL SEARCH AND SEIZURE
A motion to quash a search warrant and/or to suppress evidence obtained thereby may be filed in and acted upon only by the court where the action has been instituted. If no criminal action has been instituted, the motion may be filed in and resolved by the court that issued search warrant. However, if such court failed to resolve the motion and a criminal case is subsequently filed in another court, the motion shall be resolved by the latter court.
Alternative remedies of the accused adversely affected by a search warrant are the following:
1) Motion to quash the search warrant with the issuing court; or
2) Motion suppress evidence with the court trying the criminal case.
The remedies are alternative, not cumulative. If the motion to quash is denied, a motion to suppress cannot be availed of subsequently. Replevin may also be proper if the objects are legally possessed.
PROVISIONAL REMEDIES (RULE 127)
NATURE
The provisional remedies in civil actions, insofar as they are applicable, may be availed of in connection with the civil action deemed instituted with the criminal action.
An application for recovery of damages on the bond posted for purposes of said provisional remedies shall be made in the same action and, generally, cannot be the subject of a separate action.
The provisional remedies are proper only where the civil action for the recovery of civil liability ex delicto has not been expressly waived or the right to institute such civil action separately is not reserved, in those cases where such reservation may be made.
KINDS OF PROVISIONAL REMEDIES ATTACHMENT
When the civil action is properly instituted in the criminal action as provided in Rule 111, the offended party may have the property of the accused attached as security for the satisfaction of any judgment that may be recovered from the accused in the following cases:
1) When the accused is about to abscond from the Philippines;
2) When the criminal action is based on a claim for money or property embezzled or fraudulently misapplied or converted to the use of the accused who is a public officer, officer of a corporation, attorney, factor, broker, agent or clerk, in the course of his employment as such, or by any other person in a fiduciary capacity, or for a willful violation of duty;
3) When the accused has concealed, removed, or disposed of his property, or is about to do so; and 4) When the accused resides outside the
Philippines.
" Rule 57 on preliminary attachment applies on the procedure to secure an attachment in the cases authorized under Rule 127.
" At the commencement of the action or at any time before entry of judgment, a plaintiff or any proper party may have the property of the adverse party attached as security for the satisfaction of any judgment that may be recovered in the following cases:
1) In an action for the recovery of a specified amount of money or damages, other than moral and exemplary, on a cause of action arising from law, contract, quasi-contract, delict or quasi-delict against a party who is about to depart from the Philippines with intent to defraud his creditors;
2) In an action for money or property embezzled or fraudulently misapplied or converted to his own use by a public officer, or an officer or a corporation, or an attorney, factor, broker, agent, or clerk, in the course of his employment as such, or by any other person in a fiduciary capacity, or for a willful violation of duty;
3) In an action to recover the possession of property unjustly or fraudulently taken, detained or converted, when the property, or any part thereof, has been concealed, removed, or disposed of to prevent its being found or taken by the applicant or an authorized person;
4) In an action against a party who has been guilty of a fraud in contracting the debt or incurring the obligation upon which the action is brought, or in the performance thereof;
5) In an action against a party who has removed or disposed of his property, or is about to do so, with intent to defraud his creditors; or
6) In an action against a party who does not reside and is not found in the Philippines, or on whom summons may be served by publication.
EVIDENCE
(Rules 128 – 134)CONCEPT OF EVIDENCE
Evidence is the means, sanctioned by the Rules of Court, of ascertaining in a judicial proceeding the truth respecting a matter of fact. It is only a means of ascertaining the truth. This truth should depend upon the evidence submitted in a court in accordance with the rules.
Generally, the manner of proving factual allegations is through witnesses who are placed in the witness stand to testify on what they personally know or to identify relevant documents. They are presented voluntarily or through the coercive process of subpoena duces tecum.
Evidence is also secured by resorting to modes of discoveries, such as:
a) Taking of depositions of any person, oral or written (Rule 23);
b) Serving of interrogatories to parties (Rule 25);
c) Serving of requests for admission by the adverse party (Rule 25);
d) Production and inspection of documents (Rule 27); and
e) Examination of physical and mental conditions of persons (Rule 28).
A matter may also be proved by means of affidavit, such as in motions based on facts not appearing on record, in cases covered by the Rules on Summary Procedure, and those filed in administrative or quasi-judicial bodies.
SCOPE OF THE RULES OF EVIDENCE The rules of evidence are guided by the principle of uniformity. As a general policy, the rules of evidence shall be the same in all courts and in all trials and hearings.
EVIDENCE IN CIVIL CASES
EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL CASES The party having the
burden of proof must prove his claim by a preponderance of evidence.
The guilt of the accused has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
An offer of compromise is not an admission of any liability, and is not admissible in evidence against the offeror.
Except in cases of criminal negligence or those allowed by law to be compromised, an offer of compromise by the accused may be received in evidence as an implied admission of guilt.
Generally, there is no presumption for or against a party, except in some civil cases such as in a contractual suit against the carrier, there exists a presumption against the defendant.
The accused enjoys the
presumption of
innocence.
EVIDENCE PROOF
Medium of proof / Means
to the end Effect and result of
evidence / End result.
FACTUM PROBANDUM FACTUM PROBANS
Proposition to be
established Material evidencing the proposition
ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE Two axioms of admissibility:
a) None but facts having rational probative value are admissible (relevance).
b) All facts having rational probative value are admissible unless some specific rules forbid (competence).
ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE
WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE Pertains to the ability of the
evidence to be allowed and accepted subject to its relevancy and competence
Pertains to the effect of evidence admitted
REQUISITES FOR ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE
a) That it is relevant to the issue; and
b) That it is competent, that is, that it does not belong to that class of evidence which is excluded by the law or the rules.
RELEVANCE OF EVIDENCE AND COLLATERAL MATTERS
Relevance - evidence must have such a relation to the fact in issue as to induce belief in its existence or non-existence.
Collateral matters - evidence on collateral matters shall not be allowed, except when it tends in any reasonable degree to establish the probability or improbability of the fact in issue or to corroborate or supplement facts established previously by direct evidence.
a) Prospectant collateral matters – those preceding of the fact in issue but pointing forward to it, like moral character, motive, conspiracy;
b) Concomitant collateral matters – those accompanying the fact in issue and pointing to it, like alibi, or opportunity and incompatibility;
c) Retrospectant collateral matters – those succeeding the fact in issue but pointing backward to it, like flight and concealment, behavior of the accused upon being arrested, fingerprints or footprints, articles left at the scene of the crime which may identify the culprit.
MULTIPLE ADMISSIBILITY
There are times when proffered evidence is admissible for two or more purposes. Sometimes it is admissible for one purpose but inadmissible for another or vice versa. It may also be admissible against one party but not against another. This kind of evidence is to b received provided it meets the relevancy and competency tests for which it is offered.
CONDITIONAL ADMISSIBILITY
Evidence which appears to be immaterial is admitted by the court and the proponent may ask that the evidence be conditionally admitted in the meantime subject to the condition that he is going to establish its relevancy and competency at a later time. If a promise thus made is not fulfilled, the court may strike out the evidence thus conditionally admitted, if a motion is made by the opposite party.
CURATIVE ADMISSIBILITY
It refers to a situation where incompetent evidence was erroneously received by the court despite objection from the other party. It will not apply where the evidence was admitted without objection because of a waiver of the admissibility of the evidence. So, where the objection was incorrectly overruled, the court must allow the other
party to introduce evidence to contradict the evidence improperly admitted. This is reasons of fairness.
DIRECT AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE DIRECT EVIDENCE is that which proves the fact in dispute without the aid of any inference or presumption.
Evidence which if believed proves the existence of a fact in issue without interference or presumption.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE is the proof of facts from which, taken collectively, the existence of the particular fact in dispute may be inferred as a necessary or probable consequence.
In a criminal case, circumstantial evidence is sufficient for conviction provided the following requisites concur:
1) There is more than one circumstances;
2) The facts from which the inferences are derived are proven; and
3) The combination of all the circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EVIDENCE
" Testimony is positive when the witness affirms that a fact did or did not exist and is entitled to greater weight.
" It is negative when he says that he did not see or know of the factual occurrence. It is considered to be a very weak defense and can never overcome an affirmative or positive testimony particularly when it comes from the mouth of a credible witness.
COMPETENT AND CREDIBLE EVIDENCE Competent evidence is one that is not excluded by law or the rules. If the test of relevance is logic and common sense, the test of competence is the law or the rules.
Competence, in relation to evidence in general, refers to eligibility of an evidence to be received as such.
A witness may be competent, and yet give incredible testimony; he may be incompetent, and yet his evidence, if received, be perfectly credible.
COMPETENT EVIDENCE
CREDIBLE EVIDENCE Competency is a question
which arises before considering the evidence given by the witness;
Credibility concerns the degree of credit to be given to his testimony;
Denotes the personal qualification of the witness
Denotes the veracity of the testimony
BURDEN OF PROOF BURDEN OF EVIDENCE Denotes the duty of
establishing the truth of a given proposition or issue by such quantum of evidence as the law demands in the case in which the issue arises.
Means the necessity of going forward with the evidence to meet the prima facie case created against him
It remains with the party alleging facts and never shifts to the other party. He who alleges the affirmative of the issue has the burden of proof, and the same never parts.
It shifts from side to side as the trial of the case progresses
PRESUMPTIONS
A presumption is an assumption of fact resulting from a rule of law which requires such fact to be assumed from another fact or group of facts found or otherwise established in the action. It is not evidence in itself but it is an assumption resulting from the evidence. They merely affect the burden of offering evidence. In a sense, it is an inference which is mandatory unless rebutted.
A. CONCLUSIVE PRESUMPTIONS