Rule 130, Section 3 — Original document must be produced; exceptions

Text of the provision

Sec. 3. Original document must be produced; exceptions. — When the subject of inquiry is the contents of a document, writing, recording, photograph or other record, no evidence is admissible other than the original document itself, except in the following cases: (a) When the original is lost or destroyed, or cannot be produced in court, without bad faith on the part of the offeror; (b) When the original is in the custody or under the control of the party against whom the evidence is offered, and the latter fails to produce it after reasonable notice, or the original cannot be obtained by local iudicia1 processes or procedures; (c) When the original consists of numerous accounts or other documents which cannot be examined in court without great loss of time and the fact sought to be established from them is only the general result of the whole; (d) When the original is a public record in the custody of a public officer or is recorded in a public office; and (e) When the original is not closely-related to a controlling issue.

2019 Revised Rules on Evidence (A.M. No. 19-08-15-SC), Rule 130, Section 3. Reproduced verbatim and verified against the Supreme Court's official published text and the ChanRobles rendering.