Jison vs CA

GR 124853, February 24, 1998

Facts: Respondent filed a case for recognition as an illegitimate child by petitioner. Respondent presented some
documents such as various letters from the relatives of petitioner attesting as to her filiation.

Issue: Are these admissible as evidence of pedigree?

Held: No. It is evident that this provision may be divided into two (2) parts:

(1) the portion containing the first underscored clause which pertains to testimonial evidence, under which
the documents in question may not be admitted as the authors thereof did not take the witness stand;

(2) and the section containing the second underscored phrase.

What must then be ascertained is whether Exhibits S to V, as private documents, fall within the scope of the
clause "and the like" as qualified by the preceding phrase "entries in family bibles or other family books or
charts, engravings on rights and family portraits,"

We hold that the scope of the enumeration contained in the second portion of this provision, in light of the
rule of ejusdem generis, is limited to objects which are commonly known as "family possessions," or those
articles which represent, in effect, a family's joint statement of its belief as to the pedigree of a person.
These have been described as objects "openly exhibited and well known to the family," or those "which, if
preserved in a family, may be regarded as giving a family tradition." Other examples of these objects which
are regarded as reflective of a family's reputation or tradition regarding pedigree are inscriptions on
tombstones, monuments or coffin plates.