Republic of the Philippines

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

7th Judicial Region
Branch 7, Cebu City
ALDRIN B. CAMISO,
Plaintiffs,
CIVIL CASE No. CEB7230
FOR: Collection

- versus NINA C. APOSTOL,

Defendant.
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ORDER

This 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