Legal Evidence Overview

Power to hear most criminal cases, including those punishable by more than six years in prison.

Authority to review decisions of lower courts (e.g., MTC, MeTC), but not the original trial.

Handle local ordinance violations and lesser criminal offenses (<6 years imprisonment), and property damage cases.

Special court addressing corruption and graft cases involving high-ranking officials (salary grade 27 and above).

Handles civil and criminal tax cases related to national and local tax codes. It reviews tax rulings.

Based on Islamic law; specifically addressing family/personal laws among Muslims.

The legal authority of a court to hear a particular case.

A party can present evidence to change, explain, or add to a written agreement if certain issues are raised in a verified pleading.

A hidden uncertainty or unclear meaning within a written agreement.

A flaw or error in a written agreement that can be corrected.

The actual agreement desired by those involved, which may differ from the written words.

The legality and enforceability of the written agreement.

Agreements made after the initial contract is signed, potentially changing the terms.

A person who provides a statement about facts in a court of law.

Ability to perceive and communicate observations.

Legal ability to be heard in court.

Beliefs (religious or political), or interest in a case, generally do not disqualify.

Spouses generally cannot testify against each other without consent.

Exceptions exist in civil cases between spouses, or criminal cases involving harm to the spouse or family members.

Confidential information exchanged between individuals due to trust or relationship.

A national law enforcement agency in the Philippines under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Law enforcement, primarily the PNP, is the initial stage in responding to a crime or potential crime.

Includes enforcing laws, maintaining order, investigating crimes, arresting offenders, ensuring public safety, and gathering evidence.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government Act of 1990.

The PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998.

An Act extending the reglementary period for PNP educational qualifications and adjusting the promotion system.

The process of gathering information and evidence about a crime or potential crime.

The act of taking a suspected criminal into custody by law enforcement.

Measures taken to reduce incidents of crime within a community.

The protection of citizens from harm, including crime or other dangers.

The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a specific case.

A court's power to hear most cases except specific cases assigned to other courts.

A court's power to hear limited types of cases.

The power of a court to hear a case for the first time.

The power of a court to review decisions of a lower court.

Only a specific court can hear specific types of cases.

When any of several courts can hear a case.

Highest court in the land; reviews appeals from lower courts and has judicial review power.

Reviews decisions from lower trial courts, including tax cases.

Lower courts that handle many trial cases.

Methods of torture include burning with cigarettes, heated rods, hot oil, acid, pepper, or other chemicals on mucous membranes, or direct application of acids or spice on wounds.

Torture involving submersion of the head in water, possibly contaminated with bodily fluids (excrement, urine, vomit, blood), until the brink of suffocation.

Torture method involving being tied or forced into fixed, stressful bodily positions.

Includes rape, sexual assault, insertion of foreign objects into the sex organ or rectum, or electrical torture of the genitals.

Torture involving the mutilation or amputation of essential body parts (e.g., genitalia, ears, tongue).

Torture involving the forced extraction of teeth.

Torture involving the pulling out of fingernails.

Exposure to harmful elements like sunlight and extreme cold.

Torture that involves use of plastic bags or other materials over the head to cause asphyxiation.

Use of drugs to alter mental state, perception, memory, alertness, or will; includes inducing confessions or reducing mental competency; or causing extreme pain or disease-like symptoms.

Other acts of torture comparable to the examples provided.

Acts by authority figures intended to affect the mind, undermine dignity, and morale, including blindfolding, threats, solitary confinement, and prolonged interrogation.

Forcefully covering a person's eyes to restrict their ability to see and potentially cause distress or anxiety.

A statement expressing an intention to inflict harm on someone if certain conditions are not met.

Keeping someone isolated from other people, potentially causing mental anguish and distress.

Lengthy questioning that is meant to extract information as well as cause stress and distress.

A trial that is intended to make a statement or create a public perception of guilt, and not concerned with factual accuracy.

A transfer of a detained person to a different location without prior notice, often creating the fear of imminent harm or execution.

Abuse or harm directed towards a person's family members or loved ones for the purpose of harming the subject.

Depriving someone of necessary rest and sleep.

Acts designed to humiliate or shame an individual, such as stripping them, parading them, or marking their bodies.

Restricting a person's contact with their family.

Torture that ultimately leads to causing the death of another person.

Torture that results in harm to the person, that is permanent and cannot be fixed.

Torture that includes the act of rape.

Torture that comprises sexual maltreatment in addition to other acts of torture.

Torture inflicted upon a child.

Financial aid for victims of torture, with limits on the maximum amount based on the severity of the harm and expenses incurred.