Rules of Procedure; Modes of Discovery; Written Interrogatories. Interrogatories. - The landmark case of Republic of the Philippines vs. Sandiganbayan (20 S!R" 2#2$ 200% highlighted the significance and importance of the various modes of discovery. The Philippine Supreme !ourt said$ thus& 'no$ if appears to the !ourt that among far too many layers (and not a fe )udges%$ there is$ if not a regrettable unfamiliarity and even outright ignorance about the nature$ purposes and operation of the modes of discovery$ at least a strong yet unreasoned and unreasonable disinclination and ade*uate use of the deposition-discovery mechanism$ coupled ith pre-trial procedure$ could$ as the e+perience of other )urisdictions convincingly demonstrates$ effectively effectively shorten the period of litigation and speed up ad)udication., nder Section 2$ Rule 2 of the #// Rules of !ivil Procedure$ the ritten interrogatories must be ansered by the party to hom it is directed$ thus& 'Section 2. "nser to interrogatories. 1 The interrogatories shall be ansered fully in riting and shall be signed and sorn to by the person making them. The party upon hom the interrogatories have been served shall file and serve a copy of the ansers fifteen (#% days after
service thereof$ unless the court on motion and for good cause shon$ e+tends or shortens the time., Perforce a party served ith the ritten interrogatories is bound to anser the *uestions propounded therein under pain of the penalties provided for in Rule 2/ of the Rules of !ivil Procedure among hich is the dismissal of the complaint. The various modes of discovery enumerated and provided for in the Rules of !ivil Procedure is e+pressly made applicable to criminal proceedings ("gpalo$ andbook on !riminal Procedure$ 200# 3dition$ p. 4#5 citing Section 4$ Rule # of the Rules of !ivil Procedure%. 6t is of no moment that the *uestions are a sort of 'fishing e+pedition, considering that the ne rules e+plicitly allo it. The Supreme !ourt of the Philippines has repeatedly reminded the trial courts that they should encourage the use of deposition procedure and allo the adverse party to serve interrogatories to e+pedite the proceedings of the case. 6n the aforementioned case of Republic of the Philippines vs. Sandiganbayan (supra%$ it as pronounced that 'no longer can the timehonored cry of 7fishing e+pedition8 serve to preclude a party from in*uiring
into the facts underlying his opponent8s case. 9utual knoledge of all the relevant facts gathered by both parties is essential to proper litigation. To that end$ either party may compel the other to disgorge hatever facts he has in his possession. The deposition-discovery procedure simply advances the stage at hich the disclosure can be compelled from the time of trial to the period preceding it$ thus reducing the possibility of surprise., The case of 3lena S. :ng versus on. ;rancisco <. 9a=o$ etc.$ et al. (>.R. ?o. #2$ @une 0$ 200%$ is enlightening for both the bench and the bar. The Philippine Supreme !ourt said that 'the thrust of the Rules is to even make the availment of the modes of discovery 1 depositions$ interrogatories and re*uest for admissions 1 ithout much court intervention since leave of court is not necessary to put into motion such modes after an anser to the complaint has been served. The rationale behind the recognition accorded the modes of discovery is that they enable a party to discover the evidence of the adverse party and thus facilitate an amicable settlement or e+pedite the trial of the case. Thus$ to deny a party the liberty to have his ritten interrogatories ansered by his opponent$ as hat the trial court did$ on the premise that the interrogatories ere a 'fishing e+pedition$, is to disregard the categorical pronouncement in aforementioned case of Republic vs. Sandiganbayan that the time-honored
cry of 7fishing e+pedition8 can no longer provide a reason to prevent a party from in*uiring into the facts underlying the opposing party8s case through the discovery procedures. The trial court8s orders$ not being in accordance ith la and )urisprudential dictum$ are therefore correctible by rit of certiorari., The trial )udges ere earlier reminded in the case of Aoh vs. 6ntermediate "ppellate !ourt (>.R. ?o. #4BB$ September 24$ #/BC%$ that they should encourage the use of different modes of discovery5 and that it is indeed 'the duty of each contending party to lay before the court all the material and relevant facts knon to him$ suppressing or concealing nothing$ nor preventing another party$ by clever and adroit manipulation of the technical rules of evidence$ from also presenting all the facts ithin his knoledge., (Regalado& Remedial Da !ompendium$
defenses5 (4% make available in a simple$ convenient and ine+pensive ay$ facts hich otherise could not be proved e+cept ith greater difficulty5 (% educate the parties in advance of trial as to the real value of their claims and defenses thereby encouraging settlements5 (% e+pedite litigation5 (% prevent delay5 (B% simplify and narro the issues5 and (/% e+pedite and facilitate both preparation and trial. The time ithin hich to file and serve ritten interrogatories is e+plicitly fi+ed by the rules$ that is$ in civil cases before responsive anser is filed ith leave of court or ithout leave of court after the filing of responsive anser5 and in criminal cases before the setting of the arraignment and pre-trial conference. The admissions made in the verified anser to the ritten interrogatories may already be considered during the pre-trial conference and ould definitely aid the parties for purposes of a plea-bargaining. ;urther$ it is e+pressly stated under Section C of Rule 2 of the #// Rules of !ivil Procedure that a party not served ith ritten interrogatories may not be compelled by the adverse party to give testimony in open court$ or to give deposition pending appeal.
6ndeed$ the various modes of discovery allo a party to uncover the opponent8s cause and ill thus obviate further proof on facts elicited in the ritten interrogatories5 and that the proceedings ill be e+pedited ith the use of the various modes of discovery.
