COURT RECORD AND GENERAL DUTIES OF CLERKS AND STENOGRAPHERS Rule 136 SECTION 1.

Arms and great seal of court. - The arms and great seal of the Supreme Court are these: Arms Paleways of two pieces azure and gules super-imposed a balance or center with two tablets containing the commandments of God or on either side; a chief argent with three mullets or equidistant f rom each other, in point of honor, avoid argent over all the sun rayonnant or with eight major and minor rays. The great seal of the Supreme Court shall be circular in form, with the arms as described in the last preceding paragraph and a scroll argent with the following inscriptions:chan robles virtual law library Lex Populusque, and surrounding the whole a garland of laurel leaves in or; around the garland the text Supreme Court, Republic of the Philippines. The arms and seal of the Court of Appeals shall be the same as that of the Supreme Court with the only difference that in the seal shall bear around the garland the text Court of Appeals, Republic of the Philippines. The arms and seal of the Regional Trial Court shall be the same as that of the Supreme Court with the only difference that the seal shall bear around the garland, the text Regional Trial Court, the name of the province, Republic of the Philippines. (As amended by Resolution of the Supreme Court dated Nov. 10, 1967). SEC. 2. Style of process. Process shall be under the seal of the court from which it issues, be styled Republic of the Philippines, Province of _________________ to be signed by the clerk and bear date the day it actually issued. SEC. 3. Clerks office. - The clerks office, with the clerk or his deputy in attendance, shall be open during business hours on all days except Sundays and legal holidays. The clerk of the Supreme Court and that of the Court of Appeals shall keep the office at Manila and all papers authorized or required to be filed therein shall be filed at Manila. SEC. 4. Issuance by clerk of process. - The clerk of a superior court shall issue under the seal of the court all

ordinary writs and process incident to pending cases, the issuance of which does not involve the exercise of functions appertaining to the court or judge only; and may, under the direction of the court or judge, make out and sign letters of administration, appointments of guardians, trustees and receivers, and all writs and process issuing from the court. SEC. 5. Duties of the clerk in the absence or by direction of the judge. - In the absence of the judge, the clerk may perform all the duties of the judge in receiving applications, petitions, inventories, reports, and the issuance of all orders and notices that follow as a matter of course under these rules, and may also, when directed so to do by the judge, receive the accounts off executors, administrators, guardians, trustees, and receivers, and all evidence relating to them, or to the settlement of the estates of deceased persons, or to guardianships, trusteeships, or receiverships, and forthwith transmit such reports, accounts, and evidence to the judge, together with the findings in relation to the same, if the judge shall direct him to make findings and include the same in his report. SEC. 6. Clerk shall receive papers and prepare minutes. The clerk of each superior court shall receive and file all pleadings and other papers properly presented, endorsing on each such paper the time when it was filed, and shall attend all of the sessions of the court and enter its proceedings for each day in a minute book to be kept by him. SEC. 7. Safekeeping of property. - The clerk shall safely keep all records, papers, files, exhibits and public property committed to his charge, including the library of the court, and the seal and furniture belonging to his office.chan robles virtual law library SEC. 8. General docket. - The clerk shall keep a general docket, each page of which shall be numbered and prepared for receiving all the entries in a single case, and shall enter therein all cases, numbered consecutively in the order in which they were received, and, under the heading of each case and a complete title thereof, the date of each paper filed or issued, of each order or judgment entered, and of each other step taken in the case, so that by

reference to a single page, the history of the case may be seen. SEC. 9. Judgment and entries book. - The clerk shall keep a judgment book containing a copy of each judgment rendered by the court in order of its date, and a book of entries of judgments containing at length in chronological order entries of all final judgments or orders of the court. SEC. 10. Execution book. The clerk shall keep an execution book in which he or his deputy shall record at length in chronological order each execution, and the officers return thereon, by virtue of which real property has been sold. SEC. 11. Certified copies. - The clerk shall prepare, for any person demanding the same, a copy certified under the seal of the court of any paper, record, order, judgment, or entry in his office, proper to be certified, for the fees prescribed by these rules. SEC. 12. Other books and duties. The clerk shall keep such other books and perform such other duties as the court may direct. SEC. 13. Index; separating cases. - The general docket, judgment book, entries book and execution book shall each be indexed in alphabetical order in the names of the parties, and each of them. If the court so directs, the clerk shall keep two or more of either or all of the books and dockets above mentioned, separating civil from criminal cases, or actions from special proceedings, or otherwise keeping cases separated by classes as the court shall deem best. SEC. 14. Taking of record from the clerks office. - No record shall be taken from the clerks office without an order of the court except as otherwise provided by these rules. However, the Solicitor General or any of his assistants, the provincial fiscal or his deputy, and the attorneys de officio shall be permitted, upon proper receipt, to withdraw from the clerks office the record of any case in which they are interested. SEC. 15. Unprinted papers. All unprinted documents presented to the superior courts of the Philippines shall

be written on paper of good quality twelve and three eight inches in length by eight and one-half inches in width, leaving a margin at the top and at the left-hand side not less than one inch and one-half in width. Papel catalan, of the first and second classes, legal cap, and typewriting paper of such weight as not to permit the writing of more than one original and two carbons at one time, will be accepted, provided that such paper is of the required size and of good quality. Documents written with ink shall not be of more than twenty-five lines to one page. Typewritten documents shall be written doublespaced. One side only of the page will be written upon, and the different sheets will be sewn together, firmly, by five stitches in the left-hand border in order to facilitate the formation of the expediente, and they must not be doubled.