Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
HELD:
1) YES. In Gener v. De Leon, we held that courts are not authorized to take judicial notice of the
contents of records of other cases even when such cases have been tried or pending in the
same court. Such does not fall under Sec. 1, Rule 129 of the Rules of Court on mandatory judicial
notice.
2) NO. Use of falsified and forged documents constitutes indirect (not direct) contempt.
Contempt of court is despising of the authority, justice, or dignity of the court. In NARCIDA V.
BOWEN, this Court characterized direct contempt as one done "in the presence of or so near the court
or judge as to obstruct the administration of justice." It is a contumacious act done facie curiae and
may be punished summarily without hearing. In other words, one may be summarily adjudged in direct
contempt at the very moment or at the very instance of the commission of the act of contumely.
Indirect or constructive contempt, in turn, is one perpetrated outside of the sitting of the court and
may include misbehavior of an officer of a court in the performance of his official duties or in his official
transactions, disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order, judgment, or command of a
court, or injunction granted by a court or a judge, any abuse or any unlawful interference with the
process or proceedings of a court not constituting direct contempt, or any improper conduct tending
directly or indirectly to impede, obstruct or degrade the administration of justice.
We agree with petitioner that the use of falsified and forged documents is a contumacious act.
However, it constitutes indirect contempt not direct contempt. Pursuant to Sec. 3 Rule 71, such act is
an improper conduct which degrades the administration of justice. In Santos v. Court of First Instance
of Cebu, Branch VI, we ruled that the imputed use of a falsified document, more so where the falsity of
the document is not apparent on its face, merely constitutes indirect contempt, and as such is subject
to such defenses as the accused may raise in the proper proceedings. Thus, following Section 3, Rule
71, a contemner may be punished only after a charge in writing has been filed, and an opportunity has
been given to the accused to be heard by himself and counsel.
Moreover, settled is the rule that a contempt proceeding is not a civil action, but a separate
proceeding of a criminal nature in which the court exercises limited jurisdiction. Thus, the modes of
procedure and the rules of evidence in contempt proceedings are assimilated as far as practicable to
those adapted to criminal prosecutions. Perforce, petitioner judge erred in declaring summarily that
respondents are guilty of direct contempt and ordering their incarceration. She should have conducted
a hearing with notice to respondents