Evidence – Means of ascertaining the truth in a judicial proceeding pertaining to a matter of fact through

investigation
- Evidence to be believed, must not only proceed from the mouth of a credible witness, but it must be
credible in itself such as the common experience and observation of mankind can approve as probable
under the circumstances
Factum Probans – evidentiary fact which establishes the proposition
Factum probandum – ultimate fact or proposition to be established
Facts – thing existing or being true
Ultimate facts – principal, determinative, constitutive facts upon the existence of which the cause of action rests;
what should be alleged to establish a cause of action
Evidentiary facts- those which tend to prove or establish the ultimate facts; premises upon which conclusion of
ultimate facts are based
- Each evidentiary fact in its turn becomes a proposition requiring the marshalling of new
evidentiary facts, more or fewer according to its complexity
- All inquiries into the truth, the reality, the actuality of things, are inquiries into the facts about
them
- Pleadings must consist ultimate facts
Issue – a question of whether a claim is true or not
- It arises if a party alleges a fact in the pleading and it is disputed by the adverse party
General Issue – it is a general and comprehensive denial of the whole declaration or of the principal part of it
Argument– piercing together of the elemental facts for a suggested conclusion; an effort to establish belief by a
course of reasoning
Question of Fact – doubt or controversy which arises to the truth or falsity of the alleged facts
Question of Law – when a doubt or a difference arises as to what the law is on certain state of facts
Conclusion of fact – inference drawn from the subordinate or evidentiary facts
Conclusion of Law – a proposition not arrived at by any process of natural reasoning from a fact or combination of
facts stated but by the application of the artificial rules of law to the facts pleaded
- Conclusions of fact and law stated in the complaint are not deemed admitted by the failure to make a
specific denial
Allegation – assetion, declaration, or statement of a party to an action made in a pleading, setting out what he
expects to prove
Proof – result of sufficient evidence

While the parties are at liberty to waive a rule of evidence, no valid waiver can extend to a rule of evidence
anchored on public policy

Under Rule 128, evidence is the means of ascertaining the truth of “a matter of fact” and not a “matter of law”
Matter of fact – a matter, the existence of which is determined by the sense, or by reasoning based upon evidence
Matter of Law – a matter, the truth of falsity of which is determined by establishing the rules of law or by reasoning
based upon them

Sources of Evidence :
1. 1987 Constitution
- Bill of Rights can only be invoked if there is governmental interference
Right to Privacy – right to be left alone
a. Unreasonable Search
b. Unwarranted Inquiry
c. Right to be Forgotten
2. Substantive Law
3. Procedural Rule

Liberal Interpretation of Rules on Evidence – if the procedure to be followed in the exercise of jurisdiction is not
specified by law or by the Rules of Court, any suitable process or mode of proceeding may be adopted which
appears conformable to the spirit of the law or rules

Principal Classification of Evidence:

1. Object or Real – evidence from things
- Gained by the immediate perception of the judicial tribunal or other seeker of truth
- “demonstrative evidence”; evidenced by direct inspection through the court’s physical senses of vision,
hearing, touch,taste, or smell
2. Documentary – evidence supplied by material substances on which the existence of things is recorded by
conventional marks or symbols
a. Unwritten(oral)- testimony given by witnesses, viva voce, either in open court or before a magistraye
acting under its commission or authority of law
b. written
3. Testimonial – persons who inform the tribunal respecting facts
 - One given by a competent witness under oath or affirmation
Two Qualities (A specific person’s assertion, under certain condition i.e. testimonial qualifications, acquires
sufficient probative value to be at least considered):
1. Accurate
Inaccurate in two ways :
a)positive falsehood – when the witness affirms a fact which did not happen
b)negative falsehood – when he denies a fact which really did happen
2. Complete
Incomplete – false omission; when it does not state some essential facts which really happened

MARCH 25,2021
Three Matters which can Displace Evidence:
1. Judicial Notice
2. Judicial Admission
3. Presumption

I. JUDICIAL NOTICE – knowledge by notoriety

- A matter is taken as true without offering of evidence by the party who should ordinarily have done so.
- Cognition by the judge of certain fats on the supposition that such facts are within his knowledge
- Assumption by a court of a fact without requiring traditional evidentiary support of the fact
- Evidentiary process by which a court recognizes a fact in the absence of any antecedent, formal proof.
- It would be unreasonable for courts to require formal proof of facts of common knowledge, or of facts
which the courts, owing to their official character, are charged with knowledge or can readily ascertain.
- Takes the place of proof and is equally persuasive as actual evidence presented, whether testimonial or
documentary.
- Legally flawed to associate judicial notice with the judge’s personal or private knowledge
 The judge is not to use from the bench, under the guise of legal knowledge, that which
he knows only as an individual observer
Kinds of Judicial Notice
1. Mandatory or Permissive – existence and territorial extent of the states, their political history, forms of
government and symbols of nations, the admiralty and maritime courts of the world and their seals, the
political constitution and history of the Philippines, official acts of the LEJ departments of the national
government of the PH, the laws of nature, the measure of time, and the geographical divisions

2. Discretionary – public knowledge or capable of unquestionable demonstration, or ought to be known to

judges because of their judicial functions

When Hearing is Necessary

- motu propio or on request of a party, or upon motion
- During pre-trial or trial
- Hear the parties on the propriety of taking judicial notice of ANY MATTER
- ON APPEAL : only hear the parties if such matter is decisive of a material issue in the case
Hearing : Information or Evidence
a. Presentation of Information
 To afford the parties reasonable opportunity to present information relevant to the
propriety of taking such judicial notice or to the tenor of the matter to be noticed
 No evidence of any fact of which the court will take judicial notice need be given by the
party alleging its existence
b. Presentation of Evidence
Original Document
- Appropriate option in the even the courts opt to utilize judicial notice
- Mere identification of the documents and markings thereof as exhibits do not confer any evidentiary
weight on them as said documents have not been formally offered by petitioner
Articles in the Website, Internet
- Patently lacks a requisite for it to be of judicial notice to the court because such requisite is not well and
authoritatively settled and is doubtful or uncertain
- Easily edited and sources are unverifiable
Matters of Compulsory Judicial Notice
1. Existence and Territorial Extent of States
2. Political History
3. Forms of Government
 a foreign government can also be taken cognizance of if the government has been
recognized by the home government
  in case of a rebellion or revolt in a foreign state, the court will assume the former state
of affairs as subsisting until the proper department of the government has recognized
the change
4. Symbols of Nationality – e.g. national flags and seals of state
5. Law of Nations
 The laws of foreign countries are not judicially noticed in the absence of such enabling
statute
 When foreign law is alleged and proved
 In the default of proof of foreign law, it will be presumed that the character of foreign
law is the same as PH law, unless the provisions of the foreign law were subjected to a
judicial admission (Doctrine of Processual Presumption)
6. Admiralty and Maritime Courts of the World and their Seals
7. Political Constitution and History of the PH
8. Official Acts of Legislative, Executive and Judicial Departments of the PH –
Does Not Include:
 Decisions of coordinate trial courts or within branches of the same judicial sphere
 Ordinances and regulations of local boards and councils
 An ordinance in conflict with a state law of general character and statewide
application is universally held to be invalid
9. Laws of Nature – phenomenon in question must be certain and invariable
10. Measures of Time – Article 13, NCC
11. Geographical Division – topographical matters or the physical texture of a place or region
Rule Adopted by an Administrative Agency and on file with the UP Law Center
- The court shall take judicial notice of the certified and true copy of each rule duly filed or as published in
the bulletin or codified rules

Discretionary Judicial Notice

1. Public Knowledge
 A fact is said to be generally recognized or known when its existence or operation is
accepted by the public without qualification or contention
 TEST : whether the fact involved is so notoriously known as to make it proper to assume
its existence without proof
2. Capable of Unquestionable Demonstration
3. Ought to be Known to Judges because of their Judicial Functions
II. JUDICIAL ADMISSIONS
Admission – voluntary acknowledgement made by a party of the existence of a certain fact and is thus against
the interest of the declarant, irrespective of his personal knowledge
 The act, declaration, or omission of a party as to a relevant fact maybe given evidence
against him or her.
a. No necessity for personal knowledge of the declarant
b. Verbal precision is not required
 the substance or effect is sufficient
 the admissibility of a statement does not depend upon the witness’ ability to remember
the exact words used
Effect : preclude further inquiry on, or negation of, the admitted fact
SELF-DISSERVING
- A statement or act to be admissible as an admission must be self-disserving
- It must be such that an inference maybe fairly drawn from it to the prejudice of the party who makes the
statements or the act
- Admissions of law or of fact, which have been acted upon by others, are conclusive against the party
making them, in all cases, between him and the person whose conduct he has thus influenced
- Predicated in estoppel theory
- Cannot later challenge the facts as a judicial admission are a waiver of proof
CONTESTING A JUDICIAL ADMISSION
- Judicial admission maybe formidable but it is not perpetually insoluble
1. Admission was made through palpable mistake
2. No admission was in fact made
 Allows one to contradict an admission by denying that he made such admission
Example : if a party invokes an “admission by an adverse party but cites the admission out of context

Exception : No objection was made during the appropriate time such as before the plea or upon offer of the
evidence
 Where a party consents to the admission of evidence, he cannot thereafter object to its
competency, since he will not be permitted to take inconsistent positions
 - A Judicial Admission does not require evidence, is conclusive, and all proofs to the contrary must be
ignored
- If evidence is introduced on a fact that is no longer contested by the adverse party either due to a judicial
admission, or a conclusive presumption, the evidence becomes immaterial as it is pointless to establish an
uncontested fact
- Admissions made by a party maybe waived by the adverse party, expressedly or impliedly, in which case
there is as if no admission at all by the party

Who can register a judicial admission?

a. Party
b. Non-party
Proof: substantial interest in the result of the litigation

Theory of Adoptive Admission

- An out of court statement by a person who is not a party is attributable to a party through express or
implied adoption
- A party may, by his words or conduct, voluntarily adopt or ratify another’s statement
- Where it appears that a party clearly and ambiguously assented to or adopted the statements of another,
evidence of those statements is admissible against him
- A party’s reaction to a statement or action by another person when it is reasonable to treat the party’s
reaction as an admission of something stated or implied by the other person
ELEMENTS
1. Expressly agrees to or concurs in an oral statement made by another
2. Hears a statement and later on essentially repeats it
3. Utters and acceptance or builds upon the assertion of another
4. Replies by way of rebuttal to some specific points raised by another but ignores further points which
he or she has heard the other make
5. Reads and signs a written statement by another

FORMS
1. Conduct manifesting a party’s belief in truthfulness of the statement
2. Party’s failure to refute an accusatory statement
3. Admission by stillness
Two Basic Points
1. A party should not be compelled to admit facts already admitted by his pleading
2. Request for admission under Section 1, Rule 126, ROC, should be to the party himself

Counsel’s Admission
If the party is represented by counsel, the judicial admission can be made by the party’s llawyer, as an agent of
the party litigant, on the broad idea that a general authority to conduct trial implies the authority to make an
admission.

An attorney is presumed to be properly authorized to represent any cause in which he appears, and no written
power of attorney is required to authorize him to appear in court for his client

Admissions made by the lawyer on behalf of a client in one case are not binding upon the same client in another
suit, except when the attorney has been expressly authorized to make the admission or subsequent litigation is
related to the previous controversy.

FORMS OF JUDICIAL ADMISSION

1. Oral
2. Implied from the conduct of the party
3.