Subpoena or process to procure the attendance of witness.
SEC. 402. Subpoena or process to procure the attendance of witness. — The process by which the attendance of a witness is required is called a subpoena. It is a writ directed to a person and requiring his attendance at a particular time and place to testify as a witness. It may also require him to bring with him any books, documents, or other things under his control, which he is bound by law to produce in evidence, in which case it is called a subpoena duces tecum.
Issuing the subpoena.
SEC. 403. Issuing the subpoena. — The subpoena shall be issued as follows:
1. To require the attendance before a court or at the trial of an issue therein, it shall be issued under the seal of the court before which the attendance is required and in which the issue is pending, and shall be signed by the judge or clerk of the court;
2. To require attendance out of the court, before a judge, justice or other officer authorized to administer oaths, or to take testimony in any matter under the laws of the Philippine Islands, it shall be issued by the judge, justice, or other officer before whom the attendance is required;
3. To require attendance before a commissioner appointed to take testimony by a court of a foreign country, or of the United States, or of any one of the States of the United States, or before any officer or officers empowered by the laws of the Philippine Islands to take depositions or testimony, it may be issued by any judge of the Supreme Court, or by a judge or justice of the peace in places within their jurisdiction; with like power to enforce attendance, and, upon certificate of contumacy to said court, to punish contempt of their process, as such judge or justice could exercise if the subpoena directed the attendance of the witness before their courts in a matter pending therein.
Service of the subpoena.
SEC. 404. Service of the subpoena. — The service of a subpoena shall be made by delivering a copy thereof, attested by the officer making the service to be a true copy, to the witness personally, giving or offering to him at the same time, if demanded by him, the fees to which he is entitled for travel to the place designated, and one day's attendance there. The service must be made so as to allow the witness a reasonable time for the preparation and travel to the place of attendance. Such service may be made by the governor of the province, or his deputy, or for want thereof, by any person specially authorized, in writing upon the subpoena, by the authority issuing the same, to make service thereof.
Service where witness is concealed.
SEC. 405. Service where witness is concealed. — If a witness is concealed in a building or vessel, so as to prevent the service of a subpoena upon him, any court, or judge, or any officer issuing a subpoena may, upon proof by affidavit of the concealment, and of the materiality of the witness, make an order that the governor, or his deputy, shall forthwith serve the same, and the officer must serve it accordingly, and for that purpose may break into the building or vessel where the witness is concealed.
Witness not obliged to go outside his province to testify.
SEC. 406. Witness not obliged to go outside his province to testify. — A witness is not obliged to attend as a witness in a civil action before any court, judge, justice, or other officer out of the province in which he resides, unless the distance be less than thirty miles from his place of residence to the place of trial by the usual course of travel, but his testimony may be taken in such case in the form of a deposition.
Person present in court.
SEC. 407. Person present in court. — A person present in court before a judicial officer may be required to testify in the same manner as if he were in attendance upon a subpoena issued by such court or officer.
Disobedience to a subpoena, or refusal to testify.
SEC. 408. Disobedience to a subpoena, or refusal to testify. — Disobedience to a subpoena, or refusal to be sworn, or to answer as a witness, or to subscribe an affidavit or deposition when required, may be punished as a contempt by the court or officer issuing the subpoena, or requiring the witness to be sworn, and, if the witness be a party, his complaint or answer may be stricken out.
Civil liability of witness disobeying subpoena.
SEC. 409. Civil liability of witness disobeying subpoena. — A witness, willfully and without cause, disobeying a subpoena, shall be liable for all damages which may be sustained by reason of the failure of the witness to attend, which damages may be recovered in a civil action.
Compelling attendance of witness.
SEC. 410. Compelling attendance of witness. — In case of failure of a witness to attend, the court or officer issuing the subpoena, upon proof of the service thereof, and of the failure of the witness, may issue a warrant to the governor of the province, or his deputy, to arrest the witness and bring him before the court or officer where his attendance is required, and the costs of such warrant and seizure of such witness shall be paid by the witness if the authority issuing it shall determine that his failure to answer the subpoena was willful and without just excuse.
If witness imprisoned.
SEC. 411. If witness imprisoned. — If the witness be a prisoner confined in a jail or prison within the Islands, an order for his examination in the jail or prison, upon deposition, or for his temporary removal and production before a court or officer, for the purpose of being orally examined, may be made, as follows:
1. By the court itself in which the action or special proceeding is pending, unless it be a justice court;
2. By a judge of the Supreme Court or a judge of the Court of First Instance of the province where the action or proceeding is pending, if pending before a court of a justice of the peace, or before a judge or other person out of court.
Such order can only be made upon the motion of a party, upon affidavit, showing the nature of the action or proceeding, testimony expected from the witness, and its materiality. If the witness be imprisoned in the province where the action or proceeding is pending, his production may be required. In all other cases his examination, when allowed, must be taken upon deposition.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
