RULE 142

Cost

Section 1. Cost ordinarily follow results of suit. — Unless otherwise provided in these rules, cost
shall be allowed to the prevailing party as a matter of course, but the court shall have power, for
special reasons, to adjudge that either party shall pay the costs of an action, or that the same be
divided, as may be equitable. No costs shall be allowed against the Republic of the Philippines
unless otherwise provided by law.

Section 2. When action or appeal dismissed. — If an action or appeal is dismissed for want of
jurisdiction or otherwise, the court nevertheless shall have the power to render judgment for cost, as
justice may require.

Section 3. Cost when appeal frivolous. — Where an action or appeal is found to be frivolous, double
or treble cost may be imposed on the plaintiff or appellant, which shall be paid by his attorney, if so
ordered by the court.

Section 4. False allegations. — An averment in a pleading made without reasonable cause and
found untrue shall subject the offending party to the payment of such reasonable expenses as may
have been necessarily incurred by the other party by reason of such untrue pleading. The amount of
expenses so payable shall be fixed by the judge in the trial, and taxed as costs.

Section 5. No cost for irrelevant matters. — When the record contains any unnecessary, irrelevant,
or immaterial matter, the party as whose instance the same was inserted or at whose instance the
same was printed, shall not be allowed as costs any disbursement for preparing, certifying, or
printing such matter.

Section 6. Attorney's fees as cost. — No attorney's fees shall be taxed as costs against the adverse
party, except as provided by the rules of civil law. But this section shall have no relation to the fees
to be charged by an attorney as against his client.

Section 7. Restriction of cost. — If the plaintiff in any action shall recover a sum not exceeding ten
pesos as debt or damages, he shall recover no more cost than debt or damages, unless the court
shall certify that the action involved a substantial and important right to the plaintiff in which case full
cost may be allowed.

Section 8. Costs, how to taxed. — In inferior courts, the costs shall be taxed by the justice of the
peace or municipal judge and included the judgment. In superior courts, costs shall be taxed by the
clerk of the corresponding court on five days' written notice giving by the prevailing party to the
adverse party. With this notice shall be served a statement of the items of the cost claimed by the
prevailing party, verified by his oath or that of his attorney. Objections to the taxation shall be made
in writing, specifying the items objected to. Either party may appeal to the court from the clerk's
taxation. The costs shall be inserted in the judgment if taxed before its entry, and payment thereof
shall be enforced by execution.

Section 9. Cost in justice of the peace or municipal courts. — In an action or proceeding pending
before a justice of the peace or municipal judge, the prevailing party may recover the following cost,
and no other:

(a) For the complaint or answer, two pesos;

 (b) For the attendance of himself, or his counsel, or both, on the day of trial, five pesos;

(c) For each additional day's attendance required in the actual trial of the case, one peso;

(d) For each witness produced by him, for each day's necessary attendance at the trial, one
peso, and his lawful traveling fees;

(e) For each deposition lawfully taken by him and produced in evidence, five pesos;

(f) For original documents, deeds, or papers of any kind produced by him; nothing;

(g) For official copies of such documents, deeds, or papers, the lawful fees necessarily paid
for obtaining such copies;

(h) The lawful fees paid by him for service of the summons and other process in the action;

(i) The lawful fees charged against him by the judge of the court in entering and docketing
and trying the action or proceeding.

Section 10. Cost in Court of First Instance. — In an action or proceeding pending in a Court of First
Instance, the prevailing party may recover the following costs, and no other:

(a) For the complaint or answer, fifteen pesos;

(b) For his own attendance, and that of his attorney, down to and including final judgment,
twenty pesos;

(c) For each witness necessarily produced by him, for each day's necessary attendance of
such witness at the trial, two pesos, and his lawful traveling fees;

(d) For each deposition lawfully taken by him, and produced in evidence, five pesos;

(e) For original documents, deeds, or papers of any kind produced by him, nothing;

(f) For official copies of such documents, deeds, or papers, the lawful fees necessarily paid
for obtaining such copies;

(g) The lawful fees paid by him in entering and docketing the action or recording the
proceedings, for the service of any process in action, and all lawful clerk's fees paid by him.

Section 11. Costs in Court of Appeals and in Supreme Court. — In an action or proceeding pending
in the Court of Appeals or in the Supreme Court, the prevailing party may recover the following
costs, and no other:

(a) For his own attendance, and that of his attorney, down to and including final judgment,
thirty pesos in the Court of Appeals and fifty pesos in the Supreme Court;

(b) For official copies of record on appeal and the printing thereof, and all other copies
required by the rules of court, the sum actually paid for the same;
 (c) All lawful fees charged against him by the clerk of the Court of Appeals or of the Supreme
Court, in entering and docketing the action and recording the proceedings and judgment
therein and for the issuing of all process;

(d) No allowance shall be made to the prevailing party in the Supreme Court or Court of
Appeals for the brief or written or printed arguments of his attorney, or copies thereof, aside
from the thirty or fifty pesos above stated;

(e) If testimony is received in the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals not taken in another
court and transmitted thereto, the prevailing party shall be allowed the same cost for witness
fees, depositors, and process and service thereof as he would have been allowed for such
items had the testimony been introduced in a Court of First Instance;

(f) The lawful fees of a commissioner in an action may also be taxed against the defeated
party, or apportioned as justice requires.

Section 12. Costs when witness fails to appear. — If a witness fails to appear at the time and place
specified in the subpoena issued by any inferior court, the cost of the warrant of arrest and of the
arrest of the witness shall be paid by the witness if the court shall determine that his failure to
answer the subpoena was wilful or without just excuse.

Section 13. Costs when the person cited for examination in probate proceedings. — When a person
is cited, on motion of another, to appear before the court to be examined in probate proceedings, the
court may, in its discretion tax costs for the person so cited and issue execution therefor, allowing
the same fees as for witnesses in Courts of First Instance.

RULE 143

Applicability of the Rules

These rules shall not apply to land registration, cadastral and election cases, naturalization and
insolvency proceedings, and other cases not herein provided for, except by analogy or in a
`suppletory character and whenever practicable and convenient.

RULE 144

Effectiveness

These rukes shall take effect on January 1, 1964. They shall govern all cases brought after they take
effect, and also all furtherproceedings in cases then pending. except to the extent that in the opinion
of the court their application would not be feasible or would work injustice, in which event the former
procedure shall apply.