Disqualification; Parental -- Filial Privilege Rule Flashcards
What is the Parental- Filial Privilege Rule
No person shall be compelled to testify against his or her parents, other direct ascendants, children or other direct descendants, except when such testimony is indispensable in a crime against that person or by one parent against the other.
NOTE: It is a privilege which consist of exempting the witness, having attended the court where his testimony is desired, from disclosing a certain part of his knowledge. (Fit for a Queen Agency, Inc. v. Ramirez, SP-06510, 15 Nov. 1977)
What is Parental privilege rule?
a parent cannot be compelled to testify against his child or other direct descendants.
What is Filial privilege rule
a child may not be compelled to testify against his parents, or other direct descendants.
NOTE: The filial privilege rule applies only to “direct” ascendants and descendants, a family tie connected by a common ancestry – a stepdaughter has no common ancestry by her stepmother.
Rule in Criminal Cases in relation to Parental-Filial Privilege?
GR: No descendant shall be compelled, in a criminal case, to testify against his parents and grandparents.
XPNs: The descendant may be compelled to give his testimony in the following instances:
- When such testimony is indispensable in a crime committed against said descendant; or
- In a crime committed by one parent against the other. (Art. 215, Family Code)
Q: A was convicted of raping his own daughter. His son, an 8-year-old boy, testified against him. Can he object to the testimony on the ground of filial privilege and invoke the incompetence of the child?
A: NO. The competency of his son is not affected by the filial privilege rule. The Rule is not strictly speaking a disqualification but refers to a privilege not to testify, which can be invoked and waived like other privileges. The son was not compelled to testify against his father but chose to waive that filial privilege when he voluntarily testified against the accused. (People v. Invencion, G.R. No. 131636, 05 Mar. 2003)
Q: A, married to B, killed the latter. One of the witnesses was C, the mother of B, who was being compelled to testify against A. Can A object on the ground of parental privilege?
A: NO. C is not a direct ascendant of A but that of B, being the mother of the latter. Thus, the privilege does not belong to A.
Q: C is the child of the spouses H and W. H sued his wife W for judicial declaration of nullity of marriage under Article 36 of the Family Code. In the trial, the following testified over the objection of W: C, H and D, a doctor of medicine who used to treat W. Rule on W’s objections which are the following:
a. H cannot testify against her because of the rule on marital privilege;
b. C cannot testify against her because of the doctrine on parental privilege; and
c. D cannot testify against her because of the doctrine of privileged communication between patient and physician. (1998 BAR)
a. The rule of marital privilege cannot be invoked in the annulment case under Article 36 of the Family Code because it is a civil case filed by one against the other. (Sec. 23, Rule 130, ROC, as amended)
b. W cannot invoke the privilege which belongs to the child. C may testify if he wants to although he may not be compelled to do so. (Sec. 25, Rule 130, ROC, as amended)
c. D, as a doctor who used to treat W, is disqualified to testify against W over her objection as to any advice or treatment given by him or any information which he may have acquired in his professional capacity. (Sec. 24(c), Rule 130, ROC, as amended)
