2. Original Document Rule Flashcards
What is the Original Document Rule?
GR: It provides that when the subject of the inquiry is the contents of the document, writing, recording, photograph or other record, no evidence shall be admissible other than the original document itself.
What are the execptions to the Original Document Rule?XPNs: (Lo-Cus-Ju-N-Pu-C)
- When the original is Lost, or destroyed, or cannot be produced in court, without bad faith on the part of the offeror;
- 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, or the original cannot be obtained by local Judicial processes or procedures;
- 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;
- When the original is a Public record in the custody of a public officer or is recorded in a public office; and
- When the original is not closely-related to a Controlling issue.
(Sec. 3, Rule 130, ROC, as amended)
Q: What is the reason underlying the adoption of the best evidence rule (now the original document rule)? (1998 BAR)
A: There is a need to present to the court the exact words of a writing where a slight variation of words may mean a great difference in rights. It is also for the prevention of fraud or mistake in the proof of the contents of a writing.
Q: Police officers arrested Mr. Druggie in a buybust operation and confiscated from him 10 sachets of shabu and several marked genuine peso bills worth P5,000.00 used as the buy-bust money during the buy-bust operation. At the trial of Mr. Druggie for violation of R.A. No. 9165, the Prosecution offered in evidence, among others, photocopies of the confiscated marked genuine peso bills. The photocopies were offered to prove that Mr. Druggie had engaged at the time of his arrest in the illegal selling of dangerous drugs. Invoking the Best Evidence Rule Atty. Maya Bang, the defense counsel, objected to the admissibility of the photocopies of the confiscated marked genuine peso bills. Should the trial judge sustain the objection of the defense counsel? Briefly explain your answer. (2017 BAR)
A: NO. The best evidence rule (now the original document rule) applies only to documentary evidence, not to object or testimonial evidence. The presentation at the trial of the “buy-bust money” is not indispensable to the conviction of the accused especially if the sale of dangerous drugs had been adequately proved by the testimony of the police officers. So long as the drug actually sold by the accused had been submitted as an exhibit, the failure to produce the marked money itself would not constitute a fatal omission.
Q: Respondent Martinez is the registered owner of the Pingol Property. Two mortgages were constituted over this property – the first (PNB Mortgage), and the second (DBP Mortgage). Respondent agreed to constitute the DBP Mortgage upon Clark’s request, and that, in order to release the Pingol Property from the PNP Mortgage, the Petitioner Spouses Tapayan and Respondent agreed to utilize a portion of the proceeds of the DBP Loan to settle the remaining balance of the proceeds of the DBP Loan to settle the remaining Respondent’s PNB Loan (P65,320.55). Subsequently, the parties executed a Deed of Undertaking in reference to the DBP Mortgage that in the event of the Petitioners could not pay the loan and consequently, the property of the Respondent is foreclosed and is not redeemed, the Petitioners shall acknowledge as his indebtedness the amount due to the DBP upon foreclosure or the amount paid by the Respondent in paying the loan, but in either case shall be deducted therefrom the amount of P65,320.55 plus interests and fees. The DBP Loan was not paid when it fell due
Petitioners assert that the RTC and CA erred in ruling that the plain copy of the Deed of Undertaking was admissible as proof of its contents, in violation of the Best Evidence Rule under Rule 130 of the Rules of Court. Also, Petitioners insist that the Deed of Undertaking is a falsity and should not be given credence. Are the Petitioners correct?
A: NO. Petitioners waived their right to object to the admission of the Deed of Undertaking on the basis of the Best Evidence Rule (now Original Document Rule). The Best Evidence Rule (now Original Document Rule) requires that when the subject of inquiry is the contents of the document, no evidence is admissible other than the original document itself except in the instances mentioned in Section 3, Rule 130 of the Revised Rules of Court. Nevertheless, evidence not objected to is deemed admitted and may be validly considered by the court in arriving at its judgement. Courts are not precluded to accept in evidence a mere photocopy of a document when no objection was raised when it was formally offered.
Petitioners failed to object to the admission of the plain copy of the Deed of Undertaking at the time it was formally offered in evidence before the RTC. In fact, in their Reply, Petitioners admit that they only raised this objection for the first time before the CA. Having failed to timely raise their objection when the Formal Offer of Evidence was filed in the RTC, petitioners are deemed to have waived the same.
Hence, they are precluded from assailing the probative value of the plain copy of the Deed of Undertaking.
When Applicable
- The original document of the writing is the
writing itself; - The contents of which is the subject of the
inquiry; and - The original document must be produced if
the purpose is to prove its contents. (Tan,
2019)
Subject of Inquiry
When the original document rule comes into operation, it is presumed that the subject of the inquiry is the contents of the document, thus the party offering the document must present the original thereof and not any other secondary evidence.
Collateral Facts Rule
A document or writing which is merely “collateral” to the issue involved in the case on trial need not be proved. Where the purpose of presenting a document is not to prove its contents, but merely to give coherence to, or to make intelligible the testimony of a witness regarding a fact contemporaneous to the writing, the original of the document need not be presented.
Meaning of Original Document
An “original” of a document is either:
- the document itself; or
- any counterpart intended to have the same effect by a person executive or issuing it.
NOTE: An original of a photograph includes the negative or any print therefrom.
NOTE: If data is stored in a computer or similar device, any printout or other output readable by sight or other means, shown to reflect the data accurately, is an “original.”
This is considered as the “Functional Equivalent” of the original under the Rules on Electronic Evidence
What Duplicate document means:
A “duplicate” is a counterpart produced by the same impression as the original, or from the same matrix, or by means of photography, including enlargements and miniatures, or by mechanical or electronic re-recording, or by chemical reproduction, or by other equivalent techniques which accurately reproduce the original.
General rule in Duplicate Documents. Exceptions (2)
GR: A duplicate is admissible to the same extent as an original.
XPN:
- A genuine question is raised as to the authenticity of the original; or
- In the circumstances, it is unjust or inequitable to admit the duplicate in lieu of the original. (Sec. 4, Rule 130, ROC, as amended)
What is the rule on Writings with identical contents made by printing, mimeographing, lithography?
Writings with identical contents made by printing, mimeographing, lithography, and other similar methods executed at the same time are considered as original document. Thus, each newspaper sold in the stand is an original. (Riano, 2019)
