OFFER AND OBJECTION
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)
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 unless a
different period is allowed by the court.
In any case, the grounds for the objections must be specified. (36a)
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. (37a)
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) chanrobles virtua law library
Importance of offer of evidence:
o And evidence must be formally offered: the court shall consider no evidence which
has not been formally offered.
1. The offer of evidence must is necessary because it is the duty of the court to rest its
findings of fact and judgment only and strictly upon the evidence offered.
2. A formal offer is necessary since judges are required to base their findings of fact and
judgment only and strictly upon the evidence offered by the parties at the trial.
When formal offer of evidence is not required:
1. In a summary proceeding, because it is a proceeding where there is no full-
blown trial.
2. Documents judicially admitter 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;
Evidence not formally offered was held to be allowable period provided certain
requirements are presents:
1. The evidence must have been duly identified by testimony duly recorded;
2. The same must have been incorporated in the records of the case;
When evidence is to be offered:
a. As regards to the testimony of the witness: the offers is to be made at the
time the witness is called to testify;
b. As regards to documentary and object evidence: they are offered after the
presentation of a party’s testimonial evidence. The offer is orally made unless
allowed by the court to be in writing.
 That objections to a documentary evidence shall be made after it is offered and the
offer of such evidence shall be made after the presentation of a party’s testimonial
evidence.
How an offer of evidence is made:
 When a party makes a formal offer of his evidence he must:
a. State the nature or substance of the evidence:
b. The specific purpose for which the evidence is offered;

Objections: purposes of objections:
1. To keep out inadmissible evidence that would cause harm to a client’s cause. The
rules of evidence are not self-operating and hence must be invoked by way of an
objection;
2. To protect the record, to present the issue of inadmissibility of the offered
evidence in a way that if the trial court erroneously the error can be relied upon
as a ground for a future appeal.
3. To protect a witness from being embarrassed on the stand or from being
harassed by the adverse counsel.
4. To expose the adversary’s unfair tactics like his consistently asking obviously
leading questions;
5. To give the trial court an opportunity to correct its own errors and at the same
time, warn the court that a ruling adverse to the objector may supply a reason to
invoke a higher court’s appellate jurisdiction;
6. To avoid a waiver of the inadmissibility of an otherwise inadmissible evidence;
General and specific objections:
 An objection must point out the specific grounds of the objection, and if it does
not do so, no error is committed;
 Basis: section 36. Rule 132; the grounds for the objection must be specified.
 The rule is that a specific objection is always preferred over a general objection.
Formal and substantive objection:
Formal objection:
o Is one directed against the alleged defect in the formulation of
objection is one directed against the alleged defect in the formulation
of the question.
o Example: ambiguous questions, leading and misleading questions,
repetitious questions, multiple questions, argumentative questions.
Substantive objection:
o Is one made and directed against the very nature of the evidence, it is
inadmissible either because it is irrelevant or incompetent or both.
o Example: parol, not the best evidence, hearsay, privileged
communication, not authenticated, opinion, res inter alios acta.
Objection must be timely:
o The objection must be timely made at the earliest opportunity;
o What is the earliest opportunity is depends upon the manner the evidence is
offered;
i. If evidence is offered orally, objection to the evidence must be made
immediately after the offer is made;
ii. An objection to question propounded in the course of the oral examination
of the witness shall be made as soon as the grounds therefore shall be come
reasonably apparent;
iii. An offer of evidence in writing shall be objected to within three days after
notice of the offer unless a different period is allowed by the court.
Striking out an answer or testimony
A motion to strike may be availed of the ff. instances:
1. When the answer is premature;
2. When the answer of the witness is irrelevant, incompetent or otherwise
improper
3. When the answer is unresponsive
4. When the witness becomes unavailable for cross-examination through no fault
of the cross-examining party
5. When the testimony was allowed conditionally and the condition for its
admissibility;
o An apparently unobjectionable question brings out an objectionable and inadmissible
response;
Waiver of objections; belated objections:
o It is a rule in evidence that any objection against the admission of any piece of
evidence must be made at the proper time and that if not so made it will be
understood to have been waived.
o When is the proper time:
i. From the question of the witness;
ii. From the answer thereto;
iii. From the presentation of the proof , the inadmissibility of the evidence is, or
may be inferred;
Ruling on objections:
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.
Repetition of objections:
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.
Tender of excluded evidence (offer of proof):
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