RULE 128

General Provisions
Section 1. Evidence defined. Evidence is the means,
sanctioned by these rules, of ascertaining in a judicial
proceeding the truth respecting a matter of fact. (1)
Section 2. Scope. The rules of evidence shall be the
same in all courts and in all trials and hearings, except
as otherwise provided by law or these rules. (2a)
Section 3. Admissibility of evidence. Evidence is
admissible when it is relevant to the issue and is not
excluded by the law of these rules. (3a)
Section 4. Relevancy; collateral matters. Evidence
must have such a relation to the fact in issue as to
induce belief in its existence or non-existence. 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. (4a)

RULE 129
What Need Not Be Proved
Section 1. Judicial notice, when mandatory. A court
shall take judicial notice, without the introduction of
evidence, of the existence and territorial extent of
states, their political history, forms of government and
symbols of nationality, the law of nations, the admiralty
and maritime courts of the world and their seals, the
political constitution and history of the Philippines, the
official acts of legislative, executive and judicial
departments of the Philippines, the laws of nature, the
measure of time, and the geographical divisions. (1a)
Section 2. Judicial notice, when discretionary. A
court may take judicial notice of matters which are of
public knowledge, or are capable to unquestionable
demonstration, or ought to be known to judges because
of their judicial functions. (1a)
Section 3. Judicial notice, when hearing necessary.
During the trial, the court, on its own initiative, or on
request of a party, may announce its intention to take
judicial notice of any matter and allow the parties to be
heard thereon.
After the trial, and before judgment or on appeal, the
proper court, on its own initiative or on request of a
party, may take judicial notice of any matter and allow
the parties to be heard thereon if such matter is decisive
of a material issue in the case. (n)
Section 4. Judicial admissions. An admission, verbal
or written, made by the party in the course of the
proceedings in the same case, does not require proof.
The admission may be contradicted only by showing
that it was made through palpable mistake or that no
such admission was made. (2a)

RULE 130
Rules of Admissibility
A. OBJECT (REAL) EVIDENCE
Section 1. Object as evidence. Objects as evidence
are those addressed to the senses of the court. When
an object is relevant to the fact in issue, it may be
exhibited to, examined or viewed by the court. (1a)
B. DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
Section 2. Documentary evidence. Documents as
evidence consist of writing or any material containing
letters, words, numbers, figures, symbols or other
modes of written expression offered as proof of their
contents. (n)
1. Best Evidence Rule
Section 3. Original document must be
produced; exceptions. When the subject of inquiry is
the contents of a document, no evidence shall be
admissible other than the original document itself,
except in the following cases:
(a) When the original has been lost or
destroyed, or cannot be produced in court,
without bad faith on the part of the offeror;
(b) When the original is in the custody or under
the control of the party against whom the
evidence is offered, and the latter fails to
produce it after reasonable notice;
(c) When the original consists of numerous
accounts or other documents which cannot be
examined in court without great loss of time
and the fact sought to be established from
them is only the general result of the whole;
and
(d) When the original is a public record in the
custody of a public officer or is recorded in a
public office. (2a)
Section 4. Original of document.
(a) The original of the document is one the
contents of which are the subject of inquiry.
(b) When a document is in two or more copies
executed at or about the same time, with
identical contents, all such copies are equally
regarded as originals.
(c) When an entry is repeated in the regular
course of business, one being copied from
another at or near the time of the transaction,
all the entries are likewise equally regarded as
originals. (3a)
2. Secondary Evidence
Section 5. When original document is unavailable.
When the original document has been lost or destroyed,
or cannot be produced in court, the offeror, upon proof
of its execution or existence and the cause of its
unavailability without bad faith on his part, may prove its
contents by a copy, or by a recital of its contents in
some authentic document, or by the testimony of
witnesses in the order stated. (4a)
Section 6. When original document is in adverse party's
custody or control. If the document is in the custody
or under the control of adverse party, he must have
reasonable notice to produce it. If after such notice and
after satisfactory proof of its existence, he fails to
produce the document, secondary evidence may be
presented as in the case of its loss. (5a)
Section 7. Evidence admissible when original document
is a public record. When the original of document is
in the custody of public officer or is recorded in a public
office, its contents may be proved by a certified copy
issued by the public officer in custody thereof. (2a)
Section 8. Party who calls for document not bound to
offer it. A party who calls for the production of a
document and inspects the same is not obliged to offer
it as evidence. (6a)
3. Parol Evidence Rule
Section 9. Evidence of written agreements. When
the terms of an agreement have been reduced to
writing, it is considered as containing all the terms
agreed upon and there can be, between the parties and
their successors in interest, no evidence of such terms
other than the contents of the written agreement.
However, a party may present evidence to modify,
explain or add to the terms of written agreement if he
puts in issue in his pleading:
(a) An intrinsic ambiguity, mistake or
imperfection in the written agreement;
(b) The failure of the written agreement to
express the true intent and agreement of the
parties thereto;
(c) The validity of the written agreement; or
(d) The existence of other terms agreed to by
the parties or their successors in interest after
the execution of the written agreement.
The term "agreement" includes wills. (7a)
4. Interpretation Of Documents
Section 10. Interpretation of a writing according to its
legal meaning. The language of a writing is to be
interpreted according to the legal meaning it bears in the
place of its execution, unless the parties intended
otherwise. (8)
Section 11. Instrument construed so as to give effect to
all provisions. In the construction of an instrument,
where there are several provisions or particulars, such a
construction is, if possible, to be adopted as will give
effect to all. (9)
Section 12. Interpretation according to
intention; general and particular provisions. In the
construction of an instrument, the intention of the parties
is to be pursued; and when a general and a particular
provision are inconsistent, the latter is paramount to the
former. So a particular intent will control a general one
that is inconsistent with it. (10)
Section 13. Interpretation according to circumstances.
For the proper construction of an instrument, the
circumstances under which it was made, including the
situation of the subject thereof and of the parties to it,
may be shown, so that the judge may be placed in the
position of those who language he is to interpret. (11)
Section 14. Peculiar signification of terms. The terms
of a writing are presumed to have been used in their
primary and general acceptation, but evidence is
admissible to show that they have a local, technical, or
otherwise peculiar signification, and were so used and
understood in the particular instance, in which case the
agreement must be construed accordingly. (12)
Section 15. Written words control printed. When an
instrument consists partly of written words and partly of
a printed form, and the two are inconsistent, the former
controls the latter. (13)
Section 16. Experts and interpreters to be used in
explaining certain writings. When the characters in
which an instrument is written are difficult to be
deciphered, or the language is not understood by the
court, the evidence of persons skilled in deciphering the
characters, or who understand the language, is
admissible to declare the characters or the meaning of
the language. (14)
Section 17. Of Two constructions, which preferred.
When the terms of an agreement have been intended in
a different sense by the different parties to it, that sense
is to prevail against either party in which he supposed
the other understood it, and when different constructions
of a provision are otherwise equally proper, that is to be
taken which is the most favorable to the party in whose
favor the provision was made. (15)
Section 18. Construction in favor of natural right.
When an instrument is equally susceptible of two
interpretations, one in favor of natural right and the other
against it, the former is to be adopted. (16)
Section 19. Interpretation according to usage. An
instrument may be construed according to usage, in
order to determine its true character. (17)
C. TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE
1. Qualification of Witnesses
Section 20. Witnesses; their qualifications. Except as
provided in the next succeeding section, all persons
who can perceive, and perceiving, can make their
known perception to others, may be witnesses.
Religious or political belief, interest in the outcome of
the case, or conviction of a crime unless otherwise
provided by law, shall not be ground for disqualification.
(18a)
Section 21. Disqualification by reason of mental
incapacity or immaturity. The following persons
cannot be witnesses:
(a) Those whose mental condition, at the time
of their production for examination, is such that
they are incapable of intelligently making
known their perception to others;
(b) Children whose mental maturity is such as
to render them incapable of perceiving the
facts respecting which they are examined and
of relating them truthfully. (19a)
Section 22. Disqualification by reason of marriage.
During their marriage, neither the husband nor the wife
may testify for or against the other without the consent
of the affected spouse, except in a civil case by one
against the other, or in a criminal case for a crime
committed by one against the other or the latter's direct
descendants or ascendants. (20a)
Section 23. Disqualification by reason of death or
insanity of adverse party. Parties or assignor of
parties to a case, or persons in whose behalf a case is
prosecuted, against an executor or administrator or
other representative of a deceased person, or against a
person of unsound mind, upon a claim or demand
against the estate of such deceased person or against
such person of unsound mind, cannot testify as to any
matter of fact occurring before the death of such
deceased person or before such person became of
unsound mind. (20a)
Section 24. Disqualification by reason of privileged
communication. The following persons cannot testify
as to matters learned in confidence in the following
cases:
(a) The husband or the wife, during or after the
marriage, cannot be examined without the
consent of the other as to any communication
received in confidence by one from the other
during the marriage except in a civil case by
one against the other, or in a criminal case for
a crime committed by one against the other or
the latter's direct descendants or ascendants;
(b) An attorney cannot, without the consent of
his client, be examined as to any
communication made by the client to him, or
his advice given thereon in the course of, or
with a view to, professional employment, nor
can an attorney's secretary, stenographer, or
clerk be examined, without the consent of the
client and his employer, concerning any fact
the knowledge of which has been acquired in
such capacity;
(c) A person authorized to practice medicine,
surgery or obstetrics cannot in a civil case,
without the consent of the patient, be examined
as to any advice or treatment given by him or
any information which he may have acquired in
attending such patient in a professional
capacity, which information was necessary to
enable him to act in capacity, and which would
blacken the reputation of the patient;
(d) A minister or priest cannot, without the
consent of the person making the confession,
be examined as to any confession made to or
any advice given by him in his professional
character in the course of discipline enjoined
by the church to which the minister or priest
belongs;
(e) A public officer cannot be examined during
his term of office or afterwards, as to
communications made to him in official
confidence, when the court finds that the public
interest would suffer by the disclosure. (21a)