TAKE NOTE OF THESE IMPORTANT AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES ON CIVIL PROCEDURE

A. Evidence Submitted with the Filing of Complaint and Answer (Rules 7 and 11)
 Parties to a case are now required to attach to their opening pleading (i.e., the complaint for the
plaintiff or the answer for the defendant) copies of all the pieces of evidence supporting their
claims and defenses. They must also indicate the names of intended witnesses and the
summaries of their testimonies.
 The prospective plaintiff must now frontload a substantial portion of work before the filing of the
complaint, including the preparation of documentary evidence, interview of witnesses, preparation
of the witnesses’ judicial affidavits, among others.
 The answering party, in turn, would have a very limited period to complete the same amount of
work in an effort to submit a complete and viable defense.
B. Electronic Filing and Service of Pleadings (Rule 13)
 If the parties consent, a court may now allow documents, except for certain pleadings, to be filed
in court and served on the other party through private courier or email.
 While electronic filing and service may expedite matters, issues are expected to arise on the
sufficiency of proof of sending and receipt, especially in complex disputes involving voluminous
submissions.
C. Service of Summons (Rule 14)
 The Amended Rules have liberalized the rules on service of summons on defendant corporations.
Previously, service may only be made on the president, managing partner, general manager,
corporate secretary, treasurer, or in-house counsel.
 Now, summons can be served through these individuals’ respective secretaries in their absence
or unavailability. If service cannot be made through the secretaries, it may also be made through
the person who customarily receives the correspondence for the defendant at its principal office,
such as a receptionist or security guard.
 With this development, companies must now consider implementing measures to expeditiously
refer any summons received to their in-house or external counsel, especially considering the new
requirement, as noted above, to include all supporting evidence in the defendant’s answer.
D. Minimizing Delays in Motion Practice and Mediation (Rules 11, 15, and 18)
 A motion for extension is now strictly prohibited except for a ONE-TIME EXTENSION for the filing
of the defendant’s initial answer to the complaint. Unlike the current practice of setting for hearing
every motion that can affect the rights of the adverse party, a hearing will only be conducted if the
judge considers it necessary and the adverse party is given only five days to comment on or oppose
the motion.
 Further, the second round of court mediation conducted before trial, called Judicial Dispute
Resolution, is no longer required in all instances.
 MEDIATION BEFORE THE JUDGE will only be conducted if the judge is convinced that a settlement
between the parties is still possible. This particular change may expedite the pre-trial process but
the absence of an additional mediation forum should be taken into account in any settlement
negotiation strategy.
E. Final Judgment after Pre-Trial (Rule 18)
 AFTER THE PRE-TRIAL, the courts are now empowered to unilaterally render a judgment (even
without a motion by a litigant) if the court opines that there are no more controverted facts, no more
genuine issue as to any material fact, absence of any issue, or the answer fails to tender an issue.
 The court’s order submitting the case for resolution due to the foregoing grounds is included in
the pretrial order and cannot be subject of an appeal or a special civil action for certiorari before
the higher courts. With this, a party can suffer an adverse decision without further recourse while
denied the opportunity to fully present its case or to properly cross examine the other party’s
witnesses, thus requiring increased care and planning in the preparation of court submissions from
the inception of a proceeding.
F. Duplicates as Original Documents (Rule 130)
 The Amended Rules appear to have relaxed the stringent requirements on presenting the original
of a document by defining an “original” as including any printout or other output shown to accurately
reflect the data, if the data is stored in a computer or similar device.
 A “DUPLICATE” is also now considered as an original document unless a genuine question is
raised as to its authenticity or if it would be unjust to allow the duplicate in lieu of the original.
 It appears that a photocopy, depending on the circumstances, may be admitted as an original
document.
G. Privileged Communications (Rule 130)
 The Amended Rules codified additional exceptions to the attorney-client privilege, such as those
communications relative to the furtherance of a crime or fraud, a breach of duty by the lawyer or
the client, or a document where the lawyer is the attesting witness.
 Further, privileged communications remain privileged even in the hands of a third party who may
have obtained the information if the original parties to the privileged communication took
reasonable precautions to protect confidentiality.