On



Entries In Official Records


Requisites
1. That it was made by a public officer or by another person specially
   enjoined by the law to do so and
2. That it was made any a public officer in the performance of his
   duty specially enjoined by law and
3. The public officer or the other person has sufficient knowledge
   of the facts by him stated, which must have been acquired by him
   personally or through official information


Reasons For Admission
1. Necessity – practical impossibility of requiring the official’s
   attendance as a witness to testify to the innumerable transactions
   occurring in the course of his duty.
2. Trustworthiness – there is a presumption of regularity in the
   performance of official duty.


Probative value:
Only prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein.


It is not essential for the officer making the official statement
to have a personal knowledge of the facts stated by him, it being
sufficient that the official information was acquired by officers
who prepared the report from persons who not only have personal
knowledge of the facts stated but must have the duty to give such
statements for the record.


People v. Cabrera Jr., G.R. No. 138266, April 30, 2003
It is well settled that entries in the police blotter should not
be given due significance or probative value as they are not
conclusive evidence of the truth of their contents but merely of
the fact that they were recorded. Hence, they do not constitute
conclusive proof.


The entries must be made at or near the time of transactions to
which they refer, and by a person deceased, or unable to testify,
who was in a position to know the facts therein stated.


The entrant must have personal knowledge of the facts stated by
him or such facts acquired by him from reports made by persons
under a legal duty to submit the same.(Salmon, Dexter& Co. v.
Wijangco)


Such record is prima facie evidence, if the person made the entries
in his professional capacity or in the performance of duty and in
the ordinary or regular course of business or duty.


The report submitted by a police officer in the performance of his
duties on the basis of his own personal observation of the facts
reported, may properly be constituted as an exception.
(Caltex v. Africa (1966)


Entries in a police blotter are not conclusive proof of the truth of
such entries.(People vs. Cabuang 1993)


Baptismal certificates or parochial records of baptism are not
official records.(Fortus v. Novero 1968)