Presumptions

Inspired by events from yesterday.

Presumptions under the Rules on Evidence is a very interesting thing. The Supreme Court defined "Presumption" as an inference of the existence or non-existence of a fact which courts are permitted to draw from proof of other facts (In the Matter of the Intestate Estates of Delgado and Rustia, G.R. No. 175733, January 27, 2006). This is not yet evidence but still, if you have presumptions established by law in your favor, then, this will help you a a lot in establishing your case.

We need to distinguish this from presumptions made by anyone in the course of his/her relations with others, particularly with someone very close to him/her. For example, a spouse who all of a sudden became very cold or very sweet. The easy presumption is that the spouse is guilty of something, more particularly of cheating. The presumption is that the sudden change in behavior is caused by something fishy (no pun intended). In today's parlance, this is just "Tamang hinala" loosely translated as "doubt tripping."

Presumptions under the law are not like that. I describe them as "Hinalang tama" loosely translated as "suspicions that are more or less correct." Under the Rules on Evidence, there are conclusive presumptions and there are disputable presumptions.

The first conclusive presumption is provided in Sec. 2, Rule 131 of the Rules of Court: “The following are instances of conclusive presumptions: (a) Whenever a party has, by his own declaration, or omission, intentionally or deliberately led another to believe a particular thing is true, and to act upon such belief, he cannot, in any litigation arising out of such declaration, act or omission, be permitted to falsify it." 

Let us go back  to examples involving spouses. The law (Art. 41 of the Family Code of the Philippines) gives an instance when  spouse can validly remarry based on the presumption that his/her spouse is presumed dead already. 

In sum, presumptions are helpful but also dangerous. You just need to know how to presume and more importantly, how to act on your presumptions. :)