H) Public Record of a Private Document

Section 27, Rule 132, Rules of Court:

Public record of a private document. — An authorized public record of a private

document may be proved by the original record, or by a copy thereof, attested by
the legal custodian of the record, with an appropriate certificate that such officer
has the custody.

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Case:

Elumbaring vs. Elumbaring

12 Phil. 384

Facts: The Plaintiff, in support of his claim of ownership over the land in
controversy, introduced in evidence the certified copy of a deed of conveyance of
said land, executed and delivered by one Carreon before the justice of peace of the
Municipality of Dapitan. Upon objection interposed by Defendant, the Trial Court
denied the admission of the evidence.

Held: Justices of peace were not expressly authorized by law to take the
acknowledgment of documents of this class. The mere fact that the said justice did
take acknowledgment of the document in question did not have the effect of
making it a public document. Therefore, Article 1216 of the Civil Code does not
apply to it.

The fact remains, however, that the said document was actually made and
signed by the parties to it, and it was recorded in the records of the justice of the
peace and is, therefore, a private document, and as such is binding upon the parties.
It should have been admitted in evidence for the purpose of showing the rights and
relations of the parties under and by virtue of its terms.

Section 27, Rule 132 of the Rules of Court provides that public records kept
in the Philippine Islands of private writings are public writings, and that a copy of
the same, duly certified to be true, should be admissible in evidence as the same as
the original writing. In the present case, the copy offered in evidence by the
Plaintiff was certified to be a true copy of the records of the justice of the peace.
 I) Proof of Lack of Record

Section 28, Rule 132 of the Rules of Court:

Proof of lack of record. — A written statement signed by an officer having the

custody of an official record or by his deputy that after diligent search no record or
entry of a specified tenor is found to exist in the records of his office, accompanied
by a certificate as above provided, is admissible as evidence that the records of his
office contain no such record or entry.

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PROOF OF LACK OF RECORD – A document consists of a written statement

signed by the officer having custody of an official record or by his deputy. The
written statement must contain the following matters:

(a) There has been a diligent search of the records;

(b) That despite the diligent search, no records of entry of a specified tenor is
found to exist in the records of his office.

The written statement must be accompanied by a certificate that such officer has
the custody of official records.

Case:

Deshong vs. City of New York

(176 N.Y. 475, 485, 68 N.E.)

It was held that the law presumes that a public officer will perform his official duty
by keeping public records safe in his office, and, therefore, if a paper which is
required by law to be filed or recorded in a public office is not found there, the
presumption arises that no such document has ever been in existence, and, until
rebutted, this presumption stands as proof of such non existence.