Republic of the Philippines
Republic of the Philippines
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
7th Judicial Region
Branch 7, Cebu City
ALDRIN B. CAMISO,
Plaintiffs,
CIVIL CASE No. CEB-7230
- versus -
FOR: Collection
NINA C. APOSTOL,
Defendant.
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ORDERThis is a civil case for Collection of Sum of Money filed
by Plaintiff against Defendant for the alleged non-payment of a
loan.The case arose from a loan contracted by Nina C. Apostol,
herein Defendant with Aldrin B. Camiso, herein Plaintiff for an
amount of Four Hundred Fifty Thousand Pesos (P450,000.00), which
the former borrowed for the improvements she intended to put on for
her coffee shop. The parties executed a promissory note to evidence
their agreement. There, it was stipulated that the loan would
mature one year from January 30, 2013.In this case, Defendant does
not contest the existence of the loan; in fact, she admits that she
obtained the said amount from Plaintiff. However, the former raises
the defense of payment. Under Articles 1231, payment is one of the
modes of extinguishment of an obligation.The Defendant, in proving
her defense, presented a photocopy of the receipt issued to her by
Plaintiff after she handed to him the entire amount of Four Hundred
Fifty Thousand Pesos (P450,000.00) for payment. Plaintiff objected
on the ground of inadmissibility of the photocopy of the receipt
under the Best Evidence Rule. Defendant argued that such
exclusionary rule under Section 3, Rule 130 of the Rules of Court
does not apply for the reason that the contents of the photocopied
receipt were not the subject of inquiry of the case.
This court is of the opinion that the evidence presented by the
Defendant, being merely a photocopy of the receipt, is at best only
secondary evidence. Under the Best Evidence Rule, when the subject
of the inquiry is the contents of a document, there can be no other
evidence admissible except the original of such document.
The subject of inquiry in this case was the contents of the
document considering that it is only thru the contents where we can
verify if indeed payment was made by the defendant so as to
extinguish her obligation.
WHEREFORE, for reasons afore-stated, the complaint is hereby
GRANTED. Defendant is hereby ordered to immediately pay her
outstanding debt amounting to Four Hundred Fifty Thousand
Pesos(P450,000.00) plus legal interest from date of judgment. With
costs against the defendant.SO ORDERED.Given in open court this
19th day of January 2015 in Cebu City, Philippines.
TEOFISTA HERNANDEZ
Judge
