PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Leland R Villadolid Jr, Gilberto D Gallos, Antonio Jose Gerardo T Paz and Leo Frederick Z Cruz, Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz
willing to testify on the genuineness, authenticity and contents thereof. The defendant is given the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses of the plaintiff as they are presented. After the presentation of the plaintiff’s witnesses, the plaintiff is required to formally offer into evi- dence their documentary and object evidence. A formal offer of evidence is required by the Rules of Court to be conducted orally. However, courts usually require the submission of a written formal offer of evidence and opposition thereto. After the plaintiff rests their case, the defend- ant will then adduce evidence in support of their defences, in a manner similar to that described for the presentation of a plaintiff’s evidence. After the defendant presents all their evidence, they will make a formal offer of their evidence. The plaintiff may then present witnesses and/or additional evidence on rebuttal, and the defend- ant may, in the same manner, thereafter present witnesses and/or additional evidence by way of surrebuttal. After both parties have completed the presenta- tion of their respective witnesses and evidence, the court will resolve the case. The filing of mem- oranda is not required under the Rules of Court, but is almost always required in practice by the courts or upon motion of the parties. 7.2 Case Management Hearings After the last responsive pleading has been filed, the court shall set the case for pretrial confer- ence (pretrial). Pretrial is mandatory, and is a procedural device intended to (among others): • clarify and limit the disputed factual and legal issues, with the primary objective of simplify-
ing and expediting (or even dispensing with) the trial; • identify the parties’ respective evidence; and • explore the possibility of an early resolution of the case. After pretrial, the court will issue a pretrial order, which shall control the subsequent proceedings, unless modified before trial to prevent injustice. Additionally, following pretrial and after issues are joined, the court shall refer the parties for mandatory court-annexed mediation to explore the possibility of settlement. If court-annexed mediation fails, and if the judge of the court to which the case was originally referred is con- vinced that settlement is still possible, the case may be referred to another court for judicial dis- pute resolution. 7.3 Jury Trials in Civil Cases There are no jury trials in the Philippines. Cases are heard and decided by a judge or by a tribu- nal composed of several justices, constituting a division of a collegial court. 7.4 Rules That Govern Admission of Evidence Under the Rules of Court, evidence is admissi- ble when it is competent and relevant. Evidence is competent when not excluded by law or the rules. An example of this is the exclusionary rule or the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine enshrined in the Constitution, which provides that any evidence obtained in violation of the right against unreasonable searches and sei- zures shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding. On the other hand, evidence is relevant when it has such a relation to the fact in issue as to induce belief in its existence or non-existence.
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