2. Documentary Evidence

Audio, photographic and video evidence

Audio, photographic and video evidence of events, acts or transactions shall be admissible provided: (REE, Rule 11, Sec. 1)

• It shall be shown, presented or displayed to the court; and
• It shall be identified, explained or authenticated by the person who made the recording or by some other person competent to testify on the accuracy thereof

MEANING OF DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

Documents as evidence consists 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 films, motion pictures or videos. (Rule 130, sec. 2)

Documentary evidence is evidence supplied by written instruments, or derived from conventional symbols, such as letters, by which ideas are represented on material substances.

For written material to qualify as documentary evidence, the purpose of offering the written material should be to prove its contents.

If offered for some other purpose (e.g., existence or condition), the writings would not be deemed as documentary evidence but as object evidence. (The Original Document Rule and the Parol Evidence Rule do not apply to object evidence, only to documentary evidence.)

IMPLIED ADMISSION BY ADVERSE PARTY

There is an IMPLIED ADMISSION if the party to whom the request is made does NOT file and serve a sworn statement EITHER

• denying specifically the matters of which an admission is requested OR
• setting forth the reasons why he cannot either admit or deny those matters within fifteen (15) days after service thereof or with such further time as the court may allow on motion.

The request for admission of documentary evidence was held to be defective for the petitioner failed to comply with the requirements under Section 1 of Rule 26 which provides that a party may serve upon any other party a written request for the admission by the latter of the genuineness of any material and relevant document described in and exhibited with the request; and that copies of the documents should be delivered with the request unless copies have already been furnished. (Duque v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 125383, 2002)

Documents to be Produced

• It should NOT be privileged;
• It should constitute or contain evidence material to any matter involved in the action; and
• It must be within the party’s possession, custody or control.

Actionable Document

A document is actionable when an action or defense is grounded upon such written instrument or document. (Asian Construction & Dev’t Corp. v. Mendoza, G.R. No. 176949, 2012)