REMINDERS

IN
COURT
APPEARANCE

Atty. Jaydee Peregrino-Co

BEFORE First Court Appearance
 Courtesy call to the
Presiding Judge
 Acquaint with court
personnel
 Secure calendar of cases
 Ready the case folders
 Take note of the most
recent incident of each case
 As much as possible, do not
ask for postponement of
cases
 Take time to sit-in and
observe court proceedings
ON First Court Appearance
 Come ahead of time of
scheduled hearing
 Bring the case folders and
calendar of cases
 During the hearing proper, the
cases shall be called one-by-
one;
 Enter your appearance on the
first called PAO case and
introduce yourself to the Court;
“Good Morning/ Good Afternoon
your Honor!
I am Atty. ___________of the
PAO________ District Office.
I am the newly assigned PAO
Lawyer to this Honorable Court.
I am entering my appearance as
counsel for the accused”
On the succeeding cases,
there is no need to
introduce yourself again.
Just Say:

“for the Accused,

your Honor”
 Speaking voice must be
loud and clear so that
everything that you say or
manifest in court will be
duly recorded.
Arraignment and Pre-Trial
 Arraignment and Pre-trial are
now scheduled on the same day.
 Before the date of the
arraignment, it is ideal that you
have met and interviewed the
accused so that you are already
with stipulations and pieces of
evidence for making during the
pre-trial
 Study if the charge may be
plea-bargained. If yes, take
note of the lower offense
and its penalty.
 Discuss the plea-bargaining
with the accused.
 If accused is amenable to
the plea-bargaining,
manifest it to the Court:
 “Your Honor, the
accused is proposing
to plea-bargain to
the lower offense of
___________.”
 The Court then will order the
prosecutor to secure the consent of
the private offended party (in private
crimes) or the police officers, as the
case may be.

(It may also be that you will discuss the

plea-bargaining proposal first with the
prosecutor so that he/she can already
talk to the private complainant and
know the latter’s decision so that
everything is already set before the
case is called by the Court).
• If consent is obtained, the accused
may already proceed to the plea-
bargaining.
• After the reading of the Information
to the accused, he/she will be asked if
he/she is guilty. The reply is:

“Guilty your Honor, to the

lower offense
of__________.”
• If the accused does not intend to
plea-bargain/ the prosecution is
not amenable / the defense of
the accused is meritorious,
arraignment shall proceed.

“Ready for
arraignment, we call
on the accused
xxxx”
The Information will be read to
the accused and accused will be
asked of his plea. The reply is:

“Not guilty your

Honor.”
• If you have not yet talked to
the accused and the case has
been called, ask for a second
call:

“Your Honor please, may I

ask for a second call as I
still need to confer with the
accused”
• If accused is not
educated, stand beside
him/her in order to
assist him/her when
he/she gives his/her
plea.
 OCA Circular 101-207
Revised Guidelines for
Continuous Trial of Criminal Cases
Prohibited Motion:
I. Motion for Judicial determination of probable
cause;
II. Motion for Preliminary Investigation filed
beyond 5-day reglementary period in inquest
proceeding under Sec. 6 Rule 112, or when
preliminary investigation is required under
Sec. 8 Rule 112, or allowed in inquest
proceedings and the accused failed to
participate in the preliminary investigation
despite due notice;
III.Motion for Reinvestigation
(1) if filed without leave of court;
(2) when PI not required when regular
PI is required and has been
conducted and the grounds relied
upon are not meritorious i.e.
credibility, admissibility of evidence,
innocence of accused or lack of due
process;
IV. Motion to Quash Information when
the ground is not one of those stated
under Sec. 3 Rule 117;
V.Motion to bill of particulars that
does not conform to Sec. 9 Rule
116;
VI.Motion to suspend arraignment
based on grounds not stated
under Sec. 11 Rule 116;
VII.Petition to suspend the criminal
action on the ground of
prejudicial question, when no civil
case has been filed, pursuant to
Sec. 7 Rule 111.
Preliminary Conference/ Pre-Trial
Criminal Cases
• It is a venue for entertaining proposals
for plea-bargaining;
• Parties enter into stipulation of facts;
the prosecutor /private counsel offers
his/her stipulations first, followed by the
defense;
“Prosecutor/Private Counsel: Will
defense admit that xxxxx”
“Defense: We admit (or deny)
your Honor” or “We admit but with
the qualification that xxx”
The usual stipulations admitted by
the defense in criminal cases;
1.Jurisdiction of the court over
the case and over the person
of the accused;
2.Identity of the accused to be
the same person charged in
the Information and arraigned
in Court and pleaded Not
Guilty;
• Listing of Witnesses (must be
named, with address, purpose
testimony must be stated)
• Listing of Exhibits (must be
named, with description,
purpose of exhibits must be
stated)
• Giving of trial dates
• There is no more reservation of
exhibits during the pre-trial.
 Civil Cases:
• Parties are required to submit
their respective Pre-Trial Briefs
five (5) days before the Pre-Trial.

• After the Pre-Trial, the court

issues the Pre-Trial Order. Parties
have ten (10) days from Receipt
of the Pre-Trial Order to make
corrections or amendments.
 Mediation
There are cases which are referred to
mediation on the civil liability (unless a
settlement is reached earlier in the
partial).
I. Crimes where payment may prevent
criminal prosecution (i.e. BP 22, SSS
Law, PAG-IBIG Law);
II.Crimes Against property (i.e. Theft;
Estafa under Art. 315(1) RPC; other
forms of swindling, malicious mischief,
etc.);
III.Crimes against honor (i.e.
libel, slander, intriguing
against honor, criminal
negligence, etc.)

Except for the above cases.

Criminal cases subject to the
Rule on Summary Procedure
shall NOT be referred to
mediation.
 Civil Cases:
• All Civil cases
EXCEPT cases covered by
the Rule on Summary
Procedure and Small
Claims Cases
 Judicial Dispute Resolution
(applicable to civil cases only)
• Conducted by the presiding
Judge if mediation fails;

• If JDR fails, case is transferred

to pairing court or re-raffled
unless parties manifest in
writing that they are willing
that the presiding Judge
continue to handle the case;
 TRIAL PROPER

• Prosecution presents
evidence first

(unless there is inverted trial

i.e. accused assert self-
defense)
 Trial Proceedings (Criminal)
in RTC
• For eyewitness, their testimonies are
taken though the regular direct/oral
examination in order that their
demeanor may be observed by the
court.
• For non eyewitness (forensic chemist,
medico-legal officers, auditors,
accountants, etc.), their testimonies
shall be their duly subscribed written
statements or Judicial Affidavits
• In the course of the testimonies of the
prosecution witnesses, the exhibits
listed in the Pre-Trial Order which are
relevant to the testimony of the witness
are identified by the witness.

• After the direct examination of a

prosecution witness, defense conducts
the cross-examination.

• Re-direct and re-cross examinations

may be conducted.
Trial Proceedings (Criminal)
in MTC
• The direct testimonies of both the
prosecution and the defense are
through the Judicial Affidavits filed with
the court before the pre-trial.
• After the prosecution witness’
identification of the Judicial Affidavit
and its attached exhibits, the defense
immediately conducts the cross
examination.
• Re-direct and re-cross examination
may be conducted.
• After the presentation of all
prosecution witnesses, the
prosecution will submit its Formal
Offer of Exhibits.

• The Offer of evidence, comments

and objections thereto and the
court ruling are made orally.

• After the admission of the

prosecution evidences, the
prosecution will rest its case;
 Demurrer to Evidence
• If in the appreciation by the defense, the
evidences of the prosecution is weak and
is not strong enough to support the
conviction of the accused, the defense
shall ask for leave of court to file
demurrer to evidence:

The Defense asks for leave of court to file a

demurrer to evidence on the ground that the
evidence adduced by the prosecution is insufficient
to prove the guilt of the accused beyond
reasonable doubt”.
* Note on the provisions of Rule 119 Section 23
• If granted, the court shall give ten
(10) days to file demurrer to
evidence.
• The prosecution shall comment
within (10) days from receipt of the
demurrer.
• If the subsequent demurrer is
denied, the defense shall present
evidence.
• If the motion for leave is denied,
accused shall present evidence on
scheduled dates.
 Promulgation of Judgment
• Judgment is promulgated by reading
it in the presence of the accused and
the Judge of the court.
• If the conviction is for a light
offense, judgment may be
pronounced in the presence f counsel
or representative.
• If accused fails to appear despite due
notice, the promulgation shall be
recorded in the criminal docket and
accused will be served a copy thereof
to his last known address or through
counsel.
• If the judgment is for conviction and
accused failed to appear despite due
notice, he shall lose the legal remedies
and shall be ordered arrested.
• Within 15 days from promulgation,
accused may surrender and ask for
leave of court to avail of the remedies.
 Appeal
• Appeal shall be made with the consent
of the client.
• If in the appreciation of counsel, the
defense is meritorious and there is a
great chance that the judgment of
conviction/unfavorable decision may be
reversed on appeal, counsel shall appeal
the case.
• For Appeals from MTC to RTC, file a
Notice of Appeal with MTC within 15
days from the date of Judgment.
• For RTC Cases, file a Notice of
Appeal with the court that rendered
the decision within 15 days from the
date of promulgation. Even before the
appeal is perfected, ready the case
folders, TSNs and necessary
documents of the case. Once an
Order is issued granting the notice of
appeal, immediately forward all the
above-stated documents together with
the Order to SACS-Cebu.
THANK YOU