RULE 142

COSTS
SECTION 1. Costs ordinarily follow results of suitUnless otherwise provided in
these rules, costs shall be allowed to the prevailing party as a matter of course,
but the court shall have power, for special reasons, to adjudge that either party
shall pay the costs of an action, or that the same be divided, as may be
equitable. No costs shall be allowed against the Republic of the Philippines
unless otherwise provided by law.
SEC. 2. When action or appeal dismissed.If an action or appeal is dismissed
for want of jurisdiction or otherwise, the court nevertheless shall have the power
to render judgment for costs, as justice may require.
SEC. 3. Costs when appeal frivolous.Where an action or an appeal is found to
be frivolous, double or treble costs may be imposed on the plaintiff or appellant,
which shall be paid by his attorney, if so ordered by the court.
SEC. 4. False allegations.An averment in a pleading made without reasonable
cause and found untrue shall subject the offending party to the payment of such
reasonable expenses as may have been necessarily incurred by the other party
by reason of such untrue pleading. The amount of expenses so payable shall be
fixed by the judge in the trial, and taxed as costs.
SEC. 5. No costs for irrelevant matters.When the record contains any
unnecessary, irrelevant, or immaterial matter, the party at whose instance the
same was inserted or at whose instance the same was printed, shall not be
allowed as costs any disbursement for preparing, certifying, or printing such
matter.
SEC. 6. Attorney's fees as costs.No attorney's fees shall be taxed as costs
against the adverse party, except as provided by the rules of civil law. But this
section shall have no relation to the fees to be charged by an attorney as against
his client.
SEC. 7. Restriction of costs.If the plaintiff in any action shall recover a sum not
exceeding ten pesos as debt or damages, he shall recover no more costs than
debt or damages, unless the court shall certify that the action involved a
substantial and important right to the plaintiff in which case full costs may be
allowed.
SEC. 8. Costs, how taxed.In inferior courts, the costs shall be taxed by the
municipal or city judge and included in the judgment. In superior courts, costs
shall be taxed by the clerk of the corresponding court on five days' written notice
given by the prevailing party to the adverse party. With this notice shall be served
a statement of the items of costs claimed by the prevailing party, verified by his
oath or that of his attorney. Objections to the taxation shall be made in writing,
specifying the items objected to. Either party may appeal to the court from the
clerk's taxation. The costs shall be inserted in the judgment if taxed before its
entry, and payment thereof shall be enforced by execution.
SEC. 9. Costs in municipal or city courts.In an action or proceeding pending
before a municipal or city judge, the prevailing party may recover the following
costs, and no other:

(a) For the complaint or answer, two pesos;

(b) For the attendance of himself, or his counsel, or both, on the day of trial, five
pesos;
(c) For each additional day's attendance required in the actual trial of the case,
one peso;
(d) For each witness produced by him, for each day's necessary attendance at
the trial, one peso, and his lawful traveling fees;
(e) For each deposition lawfully taken by him and produced in evidence, five
pesos;
(f) For original documents, deeds, or papers of any kind produced by him,
nothing;
(g) For official copies of such documents, deeds or papers, the lawful fees
necessarily paid for obtaining such copies;
(h) The lawful fees paid by him for service of the summons and other process in
the action;
(i) The lawful fees charged against him by the judge of the court in entering and
docketing and trying the action or proceeding.
SEC. 10. Costs in Regional Trial Courts.In an action or proceeding pending in
a Regional Trial Court, the prevailing party may recover the following costs, and
no other:
(a) For the complaint or answer, fifteen pesos;
(b) For his own attendance, and that of his attorney, down to and including final
judgment, twenty pesos;
(c) For each witness necessarily produced by him, for each day's necessary
attendance of such witness at the trial, two pesos, and his lawful traveling fees;
(d) For each deposition lawfully taken by him, and produced in evidence, five
pesos;
(e) For original documents, deeds, or papers of any kind produced by him,
nothing;
(f) For official copies of such documents, deeds, or papers, the lawful fees
necessarily paid for obtaining such copies;
(g) The lawful fees paid by him in entering and docketing the action or recording
the proceedings, for the, service of any process in action, and all lawful clerk's
fees paid by him.
SEC. 11. Costs in Court of Appeals and in Supreme Court. In an action or
proceeding pending in the Court of Appeals or in the Supreme Court, the
prevailing party may recover the following costs, and no other:

(a) For his own attendance, and that of his attorney, down to and including final
judgment, thirty pesos in the Court of Appeals and fifty pesos in the Supreme
Court;
(b) For official copies of record on appeal and the printing thereof, and all other
copies required by the Rules of Court the sum actually paid for the same;
(c) All lawful fees charged against him by the clerk of the Court of Appeals or of
the Supreme Court, in entering and docketing the action and recording the
proceedings and judgment therein and for the issuing of all process;
(d) No allowance shall be made to the prevailing party in the Supreme Court or
Court of Appeals for the brief or written or printed arguments of his attorney, or
copies thereof, aside from the thirty or fifty pesos above stated;
(e) If testimony is received in the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals not taken
in another court and transmitted thereto, the prevailing party shall be allowed the
same costs for witness fees, depositions, and process and service thereof as he
would have been allowed for such items had the testimony been introduced in a
Regional Trial Court;
(f) The lawful fees of a commissioner in an action may also be taxed against the
defeated party, or apportioned as justice requires.
SEC. 12. Costs when witness fails to appear.If a witness fails to appear at the
time and place specified in the subpoena issued by any inferior court, the costs
of the warrant of arrest and of the arrest of the witness shall be paid by the
witness if the court shall determine that his failure to answer the subpoena was
willful or without just excuse.
SEC. 13. Costs when person cited for examination in probate proceedings.
When a person is cited, on motion of another, to appear before the court to be
examined in probate proceedings, the court may, in its discretion, tax costs for
the person so cited and issue execution therefor, allowing the same fees as for
witnesses in Regional Trial Court.