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ESTRELLA, Tom Lui M.

JD4201

CIVIL CASE TRIAL

My group and I attended a scheduled civil case court trial observation in Branch 139 of the Makati
Regional Trial Court last April 17, 2018. It was pretty early, but the judge was very late, that we waited
for 2 hours until he showed up. I’ve observed other trials in other courts, but they were on time.

There were 6 cases docketed that day, all are civil cases. It’s just frustrating that 5 of those cases
didn’t really push through, although they have witnesses on hand. The problem is, they are missing
some of the affidavits and other documents that are needed for their trial to push through. It ends up
either dismissed or their trials re-schedule to a later date.

This goes to show that “overcompliance” is better than no trial at all. You get to have the necessary
documents needed, maybe more, so that, when the time of the trial comes, there would be less hassle
and an assurance that every requirement need is complied with, to be shown before the judge, and
let the trial commence the way it is. It just cost time and effort of everyone who are involved in such
case, when, even for a piece of affidavit or document missing, the case would be raffled once more
and set for another date, when they can just do it on that day with all documents needed complied.

Then there’s this one case where the witness of the petitioner is cross-examined only to validate
the affidavits and receipts, later know as exhibits before the court. You can see the long patience of
the older lawyers who are still litigating that they are very exhaustive with what they can still present
in the court, for as long as it is helpful to win the case. The past cases that I observed had young
lawyers as counsel and they were very technical, from the very small error in their affidavits, a missed
document on the other side, they would take notice of that before the court. Maybe it’s basically
because that thirst to make a name for themselves as a hotshot lawyer, rather than the veterans who
has so much experience under their belt, and it’s fun to see that generational gap between them.

My takeaway in this court trial observation is that, there are times that we get to look away from
what we read or learn from the Rules of Court, and be able to adapt on what is needed in a certain
situation in court. We look at the bigger picture on what is needed to be done in order for things to
be done. Also, reiterating the “overcompliance” bit, it is still needed, than to waste the time and money
of the parties because of a missing affidavit or document. Hopefully, when our time will come as
lawyers, we keep in mind of what we learn from this subject and be able to apply it on our practice
for efficient resolution of cases.

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