TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE
DISQUALIFICATIONS
MENTAL INCAPACITY /
IMMATURITY
PERSONS
DISQUALIFIED
REQUISITES
Those whose
mental condition,
at the time of
their production
for examination,
is such that they
are incapable of
intelligently
making known
their perception
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
MARITAL
DISQUALIFICATION
Spouses, with
regard to
testimony for or
against the other
spouse, without
his / her consent
DEAD
MANS
STATUTE
Parties, or
assignors 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
PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION
PRIVILEGED
MARITAL
COMM.
ATTORNEY
OR HIS
EMPLOYEE
PHYSICIAN
MINISTER /
PRIEST
PUBLIC
OFFICER
Spouses
Attorney or his
secretary,
stenographer, or
clerk
A person
authorized to
practice
medicine,
surgery or
obstetrics
Minister / priest
Public officer
(1) Spouses are
legally married.
(2) The communication was
confidential.
(3) It was made
during the
marriage.
(1) Attorneyclient relation
(2) Communication by client to
attorney in the
course of or with
a view to professional
employment
(1) Civil case
(2) Physicianpatient relation
(3) Advice or
treatment given
or information
acquired during
course of
professional duty
(1) Communication made to
public officer
(2) Communication made in
official
confidence
(3) Public
interest would
(4) Information
was necessary
for performance
of professional
duty
(5) The disclosure would tend
to blacken the
patient's
reputation
PERIOD OF
DISQUALIFICATION
During the
marriage
SCOPE OF
DISQUALIFICATION
EXCEPTIONS
suffer by the
disclosure of the
communication
During or after
the marriage
Any matter of
fact occurring
before the death
of such
deceased
person, or before
such person
become of
unsound mind
Any communication received in
confidence
during the
marriage
(1) Civil case by
one against the
other;
(1) Civil case by
One against the
other;
(2) Criminal
case for crime
committed by
one against the
other, or the
latters direct
(2) Criminal
Case for crime
committed by
one against the
other, or the
latters direct
During his term
of office or
afterwards
Any communication made by
the client to the
attorney or his
advice given
thereon in the
course of, or with
a view to
professional
employment; or
any fact the
knowledge of
which was
acquired by the
clerk, stenographer or secretary
in his capacity as
such
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 that capacity
Any confession
made to or any
advice given by
him in his
professional
character in the
course of
discipline
enjoined by his
church
Communications
made to him in
official
confidence
HOW
DISQUALIFICATION CURED
descendants /
ascendants
descendants /
ascendants
Consent of the
spouse
Consent of the
spouse
WHO MAY
INVOKE /
OBJECT
MAY IT BE
WAIVED?
Yes, by failure to
make a timely
objection.
WHEN TO BE
OBJECTED TO
Before the
answer to the
question for its
revelation
Consent of the
client
Consent of the
patient
Client
Patient
Yes
Yes
Consent of the
person making
confession
EXCEPTIONS TO THE HEARSAY RULE:
(1) DYING DECLARATION
Requisites:
(1) Death is imminent and declarant is conscious of that fact.
(2) The preliminary facts which bring the declaration within its scope
must be made to appear.
(3) The declaration relates to the facts or circumstances pertaining to the
fatal injury or death.
(4) Declarant would have been competent to testify had he survived.
(2) DECLARATION AGAINST INTEREST
Requisites:
3
(1) Declarant must be deceased or unable to testify.
(2) The declaration must concern a fact cognizable by declarant.
(3) The circumstances must render it improbable that a motive to falsify
3 existed.
Admissible against:
(1) Declarant;
(2) Declarants successors-in-interest;
(3) Third persons
(3) ACT OR DECLARATION ABOUT PEDIGREE
PEDIGREE:
history of family descent which is transmitted from one generation to
another by both oral and written declarations and by traditions.
Includes the ff.:
Requisites:
(1) Declarant is dead or unable to testify.
(2) Necessity that pedigree be in issue.
(3) Declarant must be a relative of the person whose pedigree is in
question.
(4) Declaration must be made before the controversy occurred.
(5) The relationship between the declarant and the person whose
pedigree is in question must be shown by evidence other than such
act or declaration.
(4) FAMILY REPUTATION OR TRADITION REGARDING PEDIGREE
Requisites:
(1) There is controversy in respect to the pedigree of any members of a
family.
(2) The reputation or tradition of the pedigree of the person concerned
existed previous to the controversy.
(3) The witness testifying to the reputation or tradition regarding the
pedigree of the person concerned must be a member of the family of
said person, either by consanguinity or affinity.
(5) COMMON REPUTATION
Matters that may be established by common reputation:
(1) Facts of public or general interest more than 30 years old;
(2) Marriage and related facts;
(3) Individual moral character.
Requisites:
(1) The facts must be of public or general interest and more than 30
years old.
(2) The common reputation must have been ancient, i.e. 30 years or one
generation old.
(3) The reputation must have been one formed among a class of persons
who were in a position to have some sources of information and to
contribute intelligently to the formation of the opinion.
(4) The common reputation must have been existing prior to the
controversy.
(6) PART OF THE RES GESTAE
(a) Spontaneous statements - statements or exclamations made immediately after
some exciting occasion by a participant or
spectator and asserting the circumstances of that
occasion as it is observed by him.
Requisites:
(1) There must be a startling occurrence.
(2) The statement must relate to the circumstances of the startling
occurrence.
(3) The statement must be spontaneous.
(b) Verbal Acts - utterances which accompany some act or conduct to which it is
desired to give a legal effect.
Requisites:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
The act or occurrence must be equivocal.
Verbal acts characterize or explain the equivocal act.
Equivocal act must be relevant to the issue.
Verbal acts must be contemporaneous with equivocal act.
(7) ENTRIES IN THE COURSE OF BUSINESS
Requisites:
(1) Entries must have been made at or near the time of the transaction to
which they refer.
(2) Entrant must have been in a position to know the facts stated in the
entries.
(3) Entries must have been made by entrant in his professional capacity
or in the performance of his duty.
(4) Entries were made in the ordinary or regular course of business or
duties.
(5) Entrant must be deceased or unable to testify.
(8) ENTRIES IN OFFICIAL RECORDS
(9) COMMERCIAL LISTS AND THE LIKE
(10)
LEARNED TREATISES
TESTIMONY OR DEPOSITION AT A FORMER PROCEEDING
AUTHENTICATION AND PROOF OF DOCUMENTS
When is evidence of the authenticity of a private document not necessary?
When the document is:
(1) more than 30 years old,
(2) produced from a custody in which it would naturally be found if genuine, and
(3) unblemished by any alterations or circumstances of suspicion. (Rule 132, Sec.
21)
How may the genuineness of handwriting be proved?
(1) It may be proved by any witness who believes it to be the handwriting of such
person because:
(a) he has seen the person write, or
(b) he has seen writing purporting to be his upon which the witness has acted or
been charged
and has thus acquired knowledge of the handwriting of such person.
(2) It may also be proved by way of comparison, made by:
(a) the witness; or
(b) the court
with writings admitted or treated as genuine by the party against whom the
evidence is offered, or proved to be genuine to the satisfaction of the judge.
(Rule 132, Sec. 22)
How may official records be proved?
(1) By an official publication thereof; or
(2) By a copy attested by the officer having the legal custody of the record, or by his
deputy.
Note: If the record is not kept in the Philippines, the attestation must be
accompanied with a certificate that such officer has the custody.
If the office in which the record is kept is in a foreign country, the certificate may
be made by:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
secretary of the embassy or legation;
consul-general;
consul;
vice-consul;
consular agent; or
any officer of the foreign service of the Philippines stationed in the
foreign country in which the record is kept.
In all these cases, the certification must be authenticated by the seal of his office.
(Rule 132, Sec. 24)
How may a judicial record be impeached?
By evidence of:
(1) want of jurisdiction in the court or judicial officer;
(2) collusion between the parties; or
(3) fraud in the party offering the record, in respect to the proceedings.
(Rule 132, Sec. 29)
How must alterations be accounted for?
The party producing a document as genuine may show that the alteration:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
was made by another without his concurrence; or
was made with the consent of the parties affected by it; or
was otherwise properly or innocently made, or
did not change the meaning or language of the instrument.
What is the effect of failure to explain alterations in a document?
The document shall not be admissible in evidence.
