CONFERENCIAS. PONENCIAS
99. Prótesis de hombro Moderador
Sec. 34. Offer of evidence. — The court shall consider no evidence which has not been formally offered. The purpose for which the evidence is offered must be specified. (35) Sec. 35. When to make offer. — As regards the testimony of a witness, the offer must be made at the time the witness is called to testify.
Documentary and object evidence shall be offered after the presentation of a party's testimonial evidence. Such offer shall be done orally unless allowed by the court to be done in writing. (n)
The literal import of §34 has been relaxed in the sense that evidence not formally offered can be admitted by the TC provided the ff. requirements are present:
1. The same must’ve been duly identified by testimony duly recorded; and
2. The same must’ve been incorporated in the records of the case
The formal offer of testimonial evidence at the time the witness is called to testify is necessary to enable the court to intelligently rule on any objection to the questions asked. As a rule, the proponent must show its relevance, materiality, and competence, and the adverse party must promptly raise any objection thereto. (People v. Ancheta)
RIANO:
When formal offer of evidence is not required
1. In a summary proceeding, as it’s a proceeding where there’s no full-blown trial
2. Documents judicially admitted or taken judicial notice of 3. Documents, affidavits, and depositions used in rendering
a summary judgment
4. Documents or affidavits used in deciding quasi-judicial or administrative cases
5. Lost objects previously marked, identified, described in the record, and testified to by witnesses who had been subjects of cross-examination in respect to said objects Sec. 36. Objection. — Objection to evidence offered orally must be made immediately after the offer is made.
Objection to a question propounded in the course of the oral examination of a witness shall be made as soon as the grounds therefor shall become reasonably apparent.
An offer of evidence in writing shall be objected to within three (3) days after notice of the offer unless a different period is allowed by the court.
In any case, the grounds for the objections must be specified. Sec. 37. When repetition of objection unnecessary. — When it becomes reasonably apparent in the course of the examination of a witness that the question being propounded are of the same class as those to which objection has been made, whether such objection was sustained or overruled, it shall not be necessary to repeat the objection, it being sufficient for the adverse party to record his continuing objection to such class of questions.
Sec. 38. Ruling. — The ruling of the court must be given immediately after the objection is made, unless the court desires to take a reasonable time to inform itself on the question presented; but the ruling shall always be made during the trial and at such time as will give the party against whom it is made an opportunity to meet the situation presented by the ruling.
The reason for sustaining or overruling an objection need not be stated. However, if the objection is based on two or more grounds, a ruling sustaining the objection on one or some of them must specify the ground or grounds relied upon. (38a) Sec. 39. Striking out answer. — Should a witness answer the question before the adverse party had the opportunity to voice fully its objection to the same, and such objection is found to be meritorious, the court shall sustain the objection and order the answer given to be stricken off the record. On proper motion, the court may also order the striking out of answers which are incompetent, irrelevant, or otherwise improper. (n)
Sec. 40. Tender of excluded evidence. — If documents or things offered in evidence are excluded by the court, the offeror may have the same attached to or made part of the record. If the evidence excluded is oral, the offeror may state for the record the name and other personal circumstances of the witness and the substance of the proposed testimony. (n) Parties who offer objections to questions on whatever ground are entitled to a ruling at the time the objection is made, unless they present a question with regard to which the court desires to inform itself before making its ruling. In that event, it’s perfectly proper for the court to take a reasonable time to study the questions raised by the
objection, but a ruling should always be made during the trial.
The courts should consider the evidence only for the purpose for which it was offered (People v. Abalos) The trial courts should permit all exhibits presented by the parties, although not admitted, to be attached to the records so that, in case of appeal, the appellate court may be able to examine the same and determine the propriety of their rejection. (Oliveros v. Oliveros)
However, it has been held that where documentary evidence was rejected by the TC and the offeror did not move that the same be attached to the record, the same cannot be considered by the appellate court (Banez v. CA), as documents forming no part of proofs before the appellate court cannot be considered in disposing of the case (De Castro v. CA); otherwise, that would infringe upon the adverse party’s constitutional right to due process of law. (Tinsay v. Yusay)
Where there is no indication of bad faith on the part of the attorney offering the evidence, the court may, as a rule, safely accept the testimony upon the statement of the attorney that the proof offered will be connected later. (Prats & Co. v. Phoenix Insurance)
The purpose for w/c the evidence is offered must be specified because such evidence may be admissible for several purposes under the doctrine of multiple admissibility, or may be admissible for one purpose and not for another, otherwise the adverse party can’t interpose the proper objection. Evidence submitted for one purpose may not be considered for any other purpose. (People v. Diano)
A document or writing which is admitted merely as part of the testimony of a witness (and not as an independent evidence) does not constitute proof of the facts related therein. (Sheraton-Palace Hotel v. Quijano)
Identification of
documentary evidence Formal offer of documentary evidence Made in the course of the
trial and marked as exhibits. Evidence identified at trial and marked as exhibits may be withdrawn before formal offer thereof or may not at all be offered as evidence
Only when the proponent rests his case and formally offers the evidence that an objection thereto may be made.
Documents which may have been marked as exhibits during the hearing but w/c were not formally offered in evidence cannot be considered as evidence nor can they be given any evidentiary value. (Vda. De Flores v. WCC)
However, it has been held in a criminal case for kidnapping w/ murder that even if there was no formal offer of the exhibits but the same have been duly identified by testimony duly recorded and the exhibits have been incorporated in the records of the case, said exhibits are admissible against the accused. (People v. Mate)
§37 provides that the repetition of objections to the same class of evidence is not required. The party may just enter a general and continuing objection to the same class of evidence and the ruling of the court shall be applicable to all such evidence of the same class. It has been held that the court itself may motu proprio treat the objection as a
continuing one. (Ed. A. Keller & Co., Ltd. v. Ellerman & Bucknail)
An erroneous admission or rejection of evidence by the TC is not a ground for a new trial or reversal of the decision if there are other independent evidence to sustain the decision, or if the rejected evidence, if it had been admitted, wouldn’t have changed the decision (People v. Bande); otherwise a new trial is warranted by reason of such erroneous ruling w/c goes into the merits of the case and would’ve affected the decision (US v. Villanueva).
If the TC erroneously ruled out the evidence and discovered such error before the judgment had become final or before and appeal therefrom had been perfected, it may reopen the case. (Tinsay v. Yusay) The TC rulings on procedural questions and on admissibility of evidence during the course of a trial are interlocutory in nature and may not be the subject of separate appeals or review on certiorari. These are to be assigned as errors and reviewed in the appeal taken from the TC on the merits of the case. (Gatdula v. People)
RIANO:
An objection must point out the specific ground of the objection, and if it does not do so, no error is committed in overruling it.
An objector must be explicit as to the legal ground he invokes. He cannot simply manifest that he is interposing an objection. He has to precisely state the exclusionary rule that would justify his opposition to the proffered evidence. The rule is that a specific objection is always preferred over a general one. However, it does not impose an absolute ban on general objections. There is no compelling need to specify the ground, “if the ground for exclusion should have been obvious to the judge or to counsel.” (AmJur)
Objections may be formal or substantive.
•
Formal objection : one directed against the alleged defect in the formulation of the question (Examples of defectively formulated questions: ambiguous, argumentative, etc.)•
Substantive objection : objections made and directed against the very nature of the evidence, i.e. it is inadmissible either because it is irrelevant or incompetent or bothAn objection must state the specific ground relied upon and be timely (made at the earliest opportunity).
Cases:
HEIRS OF LOURDES SAEZ SABANPAN V . COMORPOSA Neither the rules of procedure nor jurisprudence would sanction the admission of evidence that has not been formally offered during the trial. But this evidentiary rule is applicable only to ordinary trials, not to cases covered by the rule on summary procedure – cases in which no full-blown trial is held.
CABUGAO V . PEOPLE
Where a party fails to object to evidence when offered, he is deemed to have waived his objection thereto. Consequently, the evidence offered may be admitted.
YU V . CA
It is apparent [from R132.40] that before tender of excluded evidence is made, the evidence must have been formally offered before the court. And before formal offer of evidence is made, the evidence must have been identified and presented before the court.
VALENCIA V . SANDIGANBAYAN
• Admission of additional evidence is addressed to the sound discretion of the TC.
• A motion to reopen presupposes that either or both parties have formally offered and closed their evidence. PAREL V . PRUDENCIO
A formal offer is necessary because it is the duty of a judge to rest his findings of facts and his judgment only and strictly upon the evidence offered by the parties to the suit. It is a settled rule that the mere fact that a particular document is identified and marked as an exhibit does not mean that it has thereby already been offered as part of the evidence of a party.
RAMOS V . DIZON
In People v. Napat-a, we relaxed [R132.34] and allowed evidence not formally offered to be admitted and considered by the trial court provided the following requirements are present, viz: first, the same must have been duly identified by testimony duly recorded and, second, the same must have been incorporated in the records of the case.
TAN V . PEOPLE
SC has ruled that objection to the admissibility of evidence, if not made at the time such evidence is offered, shall be deemed waived. However, in all cases where said rule had been applied, the assailed testimonial or object evidence had been duly presented during the course of the trial.
V. WEIGHT AND SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE