Comments on the Judicial Affidavit Rule Part 2

It is a practice of some courts in Cebu that a witness' Judicial Affidavit is to be marked as exhibit, however, that practice is utterly unprocedural. Let it be recalled that under Sec. 2 (1) of the Judicial Affidavit rule, it states, to wit:

"The judicial affidavits of their witnesses, shall take the place of such witness' direct testimonies;"

With that in mind, the Judicial Affidavit should not be marked as an exhibit as it is explicitly clear that it takes the place of the witness' testimony. This very same issue was discussed by Justice Hernando during the MCLE hosted by IBP-Cebu City and FIDA. It should be very clear by now that the JA should not be marked as an exhibit.