VII.

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

1. What is documentary evidence?

- Documents as evidence consist of writings, recordings, photographs or any material containing letters, words,
sounds, numbers, figures, symbols, or their equivalent, or other modes of written expression offered as proof
of their contents. Photographs include still pictures, drawings, stored images, x-ray fi lms, motion pictures or
videos.
*not all documents are considered as documentary evidence
EX. Videos, recordings

What is the common factor?

Contents of a document – what are we referring to?

- Thought that is being conveyed by the document

Object evidence – judge will use the senses

Documentary evidence -

If I present a video recording, to prove not what was recording but to prove that the sound was very
loud. Am I presenting it as an object or documentary evidence?
If loudness – object
What was recorded – documentary

If you’re going to take a pic of the scene of the crime, it is now considered as documentary evidence
because what we are proving is the contents.

Object – it demonstrates yung nangyari

Do we confine demonstrative evidence to object evidence only? No. there may be docu evidence.

Section 2 “or their equivalent” – how to interpret?

Maps

Photographs include still pictures, drawings, stored images, x-ray fi lms, motion pictures or videos.

2. How would you classify the various documentary evidence as stated in the 2019 amended rules?
3. What is the foremost consideration in determining if a piece of evidence is being offered as documentary
evidence?
4. How does a judge appreciate documentary evidence?
5. What is a document?
6. Is a document the same as an instrument?
7. What is the Best Evidence Rule?
8. What is the Original Document Rule?
**Originally called best evidence, this was changed because concept of best evidence may be applied to other
forms of evidence (object and testimonial)

When the subject of inquiry is the contents of a document, writing, recording, photograph or other record, no
evidence is admissible other than the original document itself, except in the following cases:

a) When the original is lost or destroyed, or cannot be produced in court, without bad faith on the part of
the offeror;
b) 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;
c) 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;
d) When the original is a public record in the custody of a public offi cer or is recorded in a public offi
ce; and
e) When the original is not closely-related to a controlling issue.

Photocopy may be considered and original copy?

What is considered an original of the document– entirely new sa rules

Section 4 . Original of document

(a) An “original” of a document is the document itself or any counterpart intended to have the same effect by a person
executing or issuing it. An “original” of a photograph includes the negative or any print therefrom. 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.”

**counterpart? – if you have 5 copies. It will be considered the document itself?

Alin dun yung document?

Negative itself is the original – iba mukha pero original

Data stored in a computer – mobile phone – what will be considered and original of electronic evidence?
- Print out

Electronic evidence – read

(c) A duplicate is admissible to the same extent as an original unless (1) a genuine question is raised as to the
authenticity of the original, or (2) in the circumstances, it is unjust or inequitable to admit the duplicate in lieu of the
original.

Mere duplicate – not admitted to the same extent as the original

(b) 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.Rule 130

Carbon copy – may be considered as a duplicate and may also be considered original
Have the same effect like the original – then it is the original

From the same matrix?

Think of examples lalo na sa testimonial evidence –

Example ng last excpetion to the orig document rule

If icopy paste and forward an email - original document? – forwarded copy will be considered an original?
Yes – fall under what? If I copy and paste it? Not original meaning duplicate – pwede iedit. Pag inedit mo, di na
sya accurate reproduction of the original.

If there is no possibility of altering the repro, then the copy is considered and original. If it is capable of being
altered, it can be considered as a duplicate?

What is the difference between original and duplicate?

9. What are the requisites for the application of the Original Document Rule?
10. What is the original of a document?
11. What is the duplicate of a document?
12. What is the rule on the admissibility of the original and a duplicate of a document? What are the
exceptions to this rule?
13. What is secondary evidence?
14. What are the requisites for the introduction of secondary documentary evidence?
15. What are the requisites for the presentation of a summary of a document?
16. May a party who requested for the production of a document under Rule 27 be obliged to offer the same in
evidence?
17. What is parol evidence?
- It is any evidence aliunde  (extrinsic evidence) which is intended or tends to vary or contradict a complete and
enforceable agreement embodied in a document (Regalado, Vol. II, p. 730, 2008 ed.). It may refer to
testimonial, real or documentary evidence.
18. What is the Parol Evidence Rule?
19. What are the requisites for the application of the parol evidence rule?
20. What are the exceptions to the parol evidence rule?
- Section 10. Evidence of written agreements. – When the terms of an agreement have been reduced to
writing, it is considered as containing all the terms agreed upon and there can be, as between the
parties and their successors in interest, no evidence of such terms other than the contents of the
written agreement. However, a party may present evidence to modify, explain or add to the terms of
the written agreement if he or she puts in issue in a verifi ed pleading:
a) An intrinsic ambiguity, mistake or imperfection in the written agreement;
b) The failure of the written agreement to express the true intent and agreement of the parties
thereto;
c) The validity of the written agreement; or
 d) The existence of other terms agreed to by the parties or their successors in interest after the
execution of the written agreement. The term “agreement” includes wills.

a. What is considered an intrinsic ambiguity in a document?

- Intrinsic or latent ambiguity is one which is not apparent on the face of the document but which lies in the
person or thing that is the subject of the document or deed. In other words, the ambiguity is intrinsic or latent
when the language of the writing is clear and intelligible and suggests but a single meaning but some matter
extraneous to the writing creates the ambiguity (Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Ed., 73 citing Logue v. Von
Almen, 379 III. 208, 40 N.E.2d 73, 82).

Mistake in the written agreement

21. Differentiate Parol Evidence Rule from the Original Document Rule.
22. Summarize the rules on the interpretation of written documents.
23. What is authentication of a documentary evidence?
Q: What is authentication?
A: It is proving the due execution and genuineness of the document. Q: What is document?
A: It is a deed, instrument or other duly authorized paper by which something is proved, evidenced or set
forth. (Bermejo v. Barrios, G.R. No. L-23614, Feb. 27, 1970)

24. How do you authenticate:

a. written private document
b. written public document
c. recording (audio or video)
d. CCTV footage (opo video din  pero iba?)
e. still pictures
f. SMS/MMS messages
g. posts on a Facebook page

25. What is the difference between a CCTV footage and a video recording taken by a person? 
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26. What documentary evidence requires no authentication?
a) The writing is an ancient document (Sec. 21);
b) GR:  The writing is a public document or record (Sec. 19); XPN: A private document required by law to be
recorded  –  while they are public documents, the public writing is not the writing itself but the public record
thereof. Such recording does not make the private writing itself a public document so as to make it admissible
without authentication.
c) The writing is a notarial document acknowledged, proved or certified (Sec. 30);
d) The authenticity and due execution of the document has been expressly admitted or impliedly admitted by
failure to deny the same under oath; or

27. What are the kinds of documents according to the manner of authentication?
28. Differentiate private documents from public documents.
Section 19. Classes of Documents. — For the purpose of their presentation evidence, documents are either public
or private.
Public documents are:
(a) The written official acts, or records of the official acts of the sovereign authority, official bodies and tribunals,
and public officers, whether of the Philippines, or of a foreign country;
(b) Documents acknowledge before a notary public except last wills and testaments; and
(c) Public records, kept in the Philippines, of private documents required by law to the entered therein.
All other writings are private.

29. What is a private document? (Otero vs. Tan G.R. No. 200134 dated August 15, 2012)
- A private document is any other writing, deed, or instrument executed by a private person without the
intervention of a notary or other person legally authorized by which some disposition or agreement is proved
or set forth. Lacking the official or sovereign character of a public document, or the solemnities prescribed by
law, a private document requires authentication in the manner allowed by law or the Rules of Court before its
acceptance as evidence in court.

The requirement of authentication of a private document is excused only in four instances, specifically: (a)
when the document is an ancient one within the context of Section 21, Rule 132 of the Rules of Court; (b)
when the genuineness and authenticity of an actionable document have not been specifically denied under
oath by the adverse party; (c) when the genuineness and authenticity of the document have been admitted; or
(d) when the document is not being offered as genuine.

30. How may a private writing be authenticated?

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31. How is the genuineness of a handwriting proven?

Section 22. How genuineness of handwriting proved. — The handwriting of a person may be proved by any witness
who believes it to be the handwriting of such person because he has seen the person write, or has seen writing
purporting to be his upon which the witness has acted or been charged, and has thus acquired knowledge of the
handwriting of such person. Evidence respecting the handwriting may also be given by a comparison, made by the
witness or the court, with writings admitted or treated as genuine by the party against whom the evidence is offered,
or proved to be genuine to the satisfaction of the judge.

32. What is a public document?

- Public documents are:
a) The written official acts, or records of the official acts of the sovereign authority, official bodies and
tribunals, and public officers, whether of the Philippines, or of a foreign country;
b) Documents acknowledge before a notary public except last wills and testaments; and
c) Public records, kept in the Philippines, of private documents required by law to the entered therein.

33. Why is it considered public?

34. What are the different kinds of public documents? Give one example for each.
35. Differentiate the kinds of public documents as to what they may prove. (ref: RP vs. Fe Roa Gimenez G.R.
No. 174673 dated January 11, 2016)
36. What kind of public documents are judicial records?

37. How do you impeach documentary evidence in general?

38. How do you impeach judicial records?
Section 29. How judicial record impeached. — Any judicial record may be impeached by evidence of: (a)
want of jurisdiction in the court or judicial officer, (b) collusion between the parties, or (c) fraud in the party
offering the record, in respect to the proceedings. 

39. What are notarial documents?

40. Is an affidavit a notarial document?
41. Is an affidavit a public document?
42. How do you prove notarial documents?
- Section 30. Proof of notarial documents. — Every instrument duly acknowledged or proved and certified as
provided by law, may be presented in evidence without further proof, the certificate of acknowledgment
being prima facie evidence of the execution of the instrument or document involved.

43. What will you present if you want to prove an official record?
44. How do you prove the non-existence of an official record?
45. When is a document or record required to be attested?
46. What should be stated in the attestation?
47. When may an altered document be admissible?
48. Rules on Electronic Evidence (A.M. No. 01-7-01-SC)
49. What are governed by the Rules on Electronic Evidence?
50. Is it applicable to criminal cases?
51. What is electronic evidence?
52. What is an electronic document?
53. What is an electronic signature?
54. What are the presumptions regarding an electronic signature?
55. How is an electronic signature different from a digital signature?
56. How does an electronic signature work?
57. How is an electronic evidence authenticated?
58. What is an ephemeral evidence?

Good evening, mayor

1. Medical records used to show the emotional impact of the alleged stalking or harassment had on the victim
2. Telephone call records alleged to have been used in the stalking or harassment

Laying the predicate -