LAW ON EVIDENCE | PEOPLE VS SANDIGANBAYAN G.R. Nos. 115439-41. July 16, 1997

PEOPLE VS SANDIGANBAYAN

G.R. Nos. 115439-41. July 16, 1997


FACTS Atty. Sansaet is Atty. Paredes’ counsel in a criminal case filed against him.  Considering the same, there was a confidential communication made by Paredes to Sanset in connection with the Falsification case.  Until Atty. Sansaet was called to witness the preparation of the falsified documents by Atty. Paredes his client as well as the other accused in connection with the Falsification case. Whether the projected testimony of respondent Sansaet, as proposed state witness, is barred by the attorney-client privilege.


HELD Yes. It is significant that the evidentiary rule on this point has always referred to “any communication,” without distinction or qualification.  The privilege is not confined to verbal or written communications made by the client to his attorney but extends as well to information communicated by the client to the attorney by other means. It is true that by now, insofar as the falsifications to be testified to in respondent court are concerned, those crimes were necessarily committed in the past. But for the application of the attorney-client privilege, however, the period to be considered is the date when the privileged communication was made by the client to the attorney in relation to either a crime committed in the past or with respect to a crime intended to be committed in the future. In other words, if the client seeks his lawyer’s advice with respect to a crime that the former has theretofore committed, he is given the protection of a virtual confessional seal which the attorney-client privilege declares cannot be broken by the attorney without the client’s consent.


Here, it may correctly be assumed that there was a confidential communication made by Paredes to Sansaet in connection with Criminal Cases Nos. 17791-93 for falsification before respondent court, and this may reasonably be expected since Paredes was the accused and Sansaet his counsel therein. Indeed, the fact that Sansaet was called to witness the preparation of the falsified documents by Paredes and Honrada was as eloquent a communication, if not more, than verbal statements being made to him by Paredes as to the fact and purpose of such falsification. 







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