The Supreme Court has
embarked on another voyage of innovatively dealing with decongestion of cases
and speedy resolution of trials without compromising the rights of the accused,
law of evidence, and the rule of law as well. The implementation of the
Judicial Affidavit Rule is one of the judicial reform programs of the Supreme
Court which will truly lessen the period of judicial proceedings. The following
are the pertinent provisions of the Judicial Affidavit Rule:
Section 1. Scope. - (a) This Rule
shall apply to all actions, proceedings, and incidents requiring the reception
of evidence before:
(1) The Metropolitan
Trial Courts, the Municipal Trial Courts in Cities, the Municipal Trial Courts,
the Municipal Circuit Trial Courts, and the Shari' a Circuit Courts but shall not
apply to small claims cases under A.M. 08-8-7-SC;
(2) The Regional Trial Courts and the Shari'
a District Courts;
(3) The
Sandiganbayan, the Court of Tax Appeals, the Court of Appeals, and the Shari' a
Appellate Courts;
(4) The investigating
officers and bodies authorized by the Supreme Court to receive evidence,
including the Integrated Bar of the
Philippine (IBP); and
(5) The special
courts and quasi-judicial bodies, whose rules of procedure are subject to
disapproval of the Supreme Court, insofar as their existing rules of procedure
contravene the provisions of this Rule.
(b) For the purpose
of brevity, the above courts, quasi-judicial bodies, or investigating officers
shalJ be uniformly referred to here as the "court."
Sec. 2. Submission
of Judicial Affidavits and Exhibits in lieu of direct testimonies. - (a) The
parties shall file with the court and serve on the adverse party,
personally or by licensed courier service, not later than five days before
pre-trial or preliminary conference or the scheduled hearing with
respect to motions and incidents, the following:
( (1) The
judicial affidavits of their witnesses, which shall take the place of such
witnesses' direct testimonies; and
(2) The parties' documentary or object evidence,
if any, which shall be attached to the judicial affidavits and marked as
Exhibits A, B, C, and so on in the case of the complainant or the plaintiff,
and as Exhibits 1, 2, 3, and so on in the case of the respondent or the
defendant.
(b) Should a party or
a witness desire to keep the original document or object evidence in his
possession, he may, after the same has been identified, marked as exhibit, and
authenticated, warrant in his judicial affidavit that the copy or reproduction
attached to such affidavit is a faithful copy or reproduction of that original.
In addition, the party or witness shall bring the original document or object
evidence for comparison during the preliminary conference with the attached
copy, reproduction, or pictures, failing which the latter shall not be
admitted. This is without prejudice to the introduction of secondary evidence
in place of the original when allowed by existing rules.
Sec.
3. Contents of judicial Affidavit. - A judicial affidavit shall be
prepared in the language known to the witness and, if not in English or Filipino
accompanied by a translation in English or Filipino, and shall contain the
following:
(a) The name, age, residence or business
address, and occupation of the witness;
(b) The name and address of the lawyer
who conducts or supervises the
examination of the witness and the place where the examination is being held;
(c) A statement that the witness is
answering the questions asked of him,
fully conscious that he does so under oath, and that he may face criminal
liability for false testimony or perjury;
(d) Questions asked of the witness and
his corresponding answers,consecutively
numbered, that:
(1) Show the circumstances under which
the witness acquired the facts upon which he testifies;
(2) Elicit from him those facts which are relevant
to the issues that the case presents; and
(3) Identify the attached docun1entary and object
evidence and establish their authenticity in accordance with the Rules of
Court;
(e) The signature of the witness over
his printed name; and
(f) A jurat with the signature of the notary
public who administers the oath or an officer who is authorized by law to administer
the same.
Sec.
4. Sworn attestation of the lawyer. - (a) The judicial affidavit shall
contain a sworn attestation at the end, executed by the lawyer who conducted or
supervised the examination of the ·witness, to the effect that:
(1) He
faithfully recorded or caused to be recorded the questions he asked and the
corresponding answers that the witness gave; and
(2)
Neither he nor any other person then present or assisting him coached the
witness regarding the latter's answers.
(b)
A false attestation shall subject the lawyer mentioned to disciplinary action,
including disbarment.
Sec. 5. Subpoena. - If the government
employee or official, or the requested witness, who is neither the witness of
the adverse party nor a hostile witness, unjustifiably declines to execute a judicial
affidavit or refuses without just cause to make the relevant books, documents,
or other things under his control available for copying, authentication, and
eventual production in court, the requesting party may avail hinmself of the
issuance of a subpoena ad testificandum or duces tecum under Rule
21 of the Rules of Court. The rules governing the issuance of a subpoena to the
witness in this case shall be the same as when taking his deposition except
that the taking of a judicial affidavit shall be understood to be ex parte.
Sec. 6. Offer of and objections to
testimony in judicial affidavit.- The party presenting the judicial
affidavit of his witness in place of direct testimony shall state the purpose
of such testimony at the start of the presentation of the witness. The adverse
party may move to disqualify the witness or to strike out his affidavit or any
of the answers found in it on ground of inadmissibility. The court shall promptly
rule on the notion and, if granted, shall cause the marking of any excluded
answer by placing it in brackets under the initials of an authorized court personnel,
without prejudice to a tender of excluded evidence under Section 40 of Rule 132
of the Rules of Court.
Sec.
8. Oral offer of and objections to exhibits. - (a) Upon the termination of the testimony
of his last witness, a party shall
immediately
make an oral offer of evidence of his documentary or object exhibits, piece by piece, in
their chronological order, stating the purpose or purposes for which he offers the
particular exhibit.
(b)
After each piece of exhibit is offered, the adverse party shall state the legal ground for
his objection, if any, to its admission, and the court shall immediately make
its ruling respecting that exhibit.
(c) Since
the documentary or object exhibits form part of the judicial affidavits that
describe and authenticate them, it is sufficient that such exhibits are simply cited by their
markings during the offers, the
objections, and the rulings, dispensing with the description of each exhibit.
Sec. 9. Application of rule to
criminal actions. - (a) This rule shall apply to all criminal actions:
(1) Where the maximum of the imposable
penalty does not exceed six years;
(2) Where the accused agrees to the use of
judicial affidavits, irrespective of the penalty involved; or
(3) With respect to the civil aspect of the
actions, whatever the penalties involved are.
(b)
The prosecution shall submit the judicial affidavits of its witnesses not later
than five days before the pre-trial, serving copies of the same upon the
accused. The complainant or public prosecutor shall attach to the affidavits
such documentary or object evidence as he may have, marking them as Exhibits A,
B, C, and so on. No further judicial affidavit, documentary, or object evidence
shall be admitted at the trial.
(c) If the accused
desires to be heard on his defense after receipt of the judicial affidavits of
the prosecution, he shall have the option to submit his judicial affidavit as
well as those of his witnesses to the court within ten days from receipt of
such affidavits and serve a copy of each on the public and private prosecutor,
including his documentary and object evidence previously marked as Exhibits 1,
2, 3, and so on. These affidavits shall serve as direct testimonies of the
accused and his witnesses when they appear before the court to testify.
Sec.
10. Effect of non-compliance with the judicial Affidavit Rule. - (a) A
party who fails to submit the required judicial affidavits and exhibits on time
shall be deemed to have waived their submission. The court may, however, allow
only once the late submission of the same provided, the delay is for a valid
reason, would not unduly prejudice the opposing party, and the defaulting party
pays a fine of not less than Pl,OOO.OO nor more than P5,OOO.OO, at the
discretion of the court.
(b)
The court shall not consider the affidavit of any witness who fails to appear
at the scheduled hearing of the case as required. Counsel who fails to appear
without valid cause despite notice shall be deemed to have waived his client's
right to confront by cross-examination the witnesses there present.
c) The court shall
not admit as evidence judicial affidavits that do not conform to the content
requirements of Section 3 and the attestation requirement of Section 4 above.
The court may, however, allow only once the subsequent submission of the compliant
replacement affidavits before the hearing or trial provided the delay is for a
valid reason and would not unduly prejudice the opposing party and provided
further, that public or private counsel responsible for their preparation and submission
pays a fine of not less than Pl,OOO.OO nor more than P5,OOO.OO, at the
discretion of the court. http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/admin%20matters/others/A.M.%20No.%2012-8-8-SC.pdf
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