Back

PEOPLE vs Rolando Mendoza

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, appellee, vs. ROLANDO MENDOZA y CARPIO, appellant.

G.R. No. 142654 | 2001-11-16

D E C I S I O N

PANGANIBAN, J.:

The reasons for the admissibility of a dying declaration as an exception to the hearsay rule are (a) necessity and (b) trustworthiness. Necessity, because death renders a declarant's taking the witness stand impossible, and it often happens that there is no other equally satisfactory proof of the crime. Hence, the declaration is allowed to prevent a failure of justice. And trustworthiness, for in the language of Lord Baron Eyre, the declaration is made in extremity, when the party is at the point of death and every hope of this world is gone, when every motive for falsehood is silenced and the mind induced...