When Contempt Of Court Does Not Apply

In my years as a law student, way way back into the nineties, I once imagined in my head a situation wherein a witness to a case failed to show up before the court that summoned him and got himself arrested as a result of this. The judge bellowed at him in a thundering voice about why he failed to respond to his order in the most convenient way, and thereby delaying the case that was at hand.

The man who failed to respond to the subpoena answered, “Your honor, I lived about 400 miles from the city. I couldn’t even afford to commute to the barrio market, how much more could I afford to come to the city?” And so the judge scratched his head and thought that the man got a point.

So perhaps nowadays, the law already provides that any person ordered to become a witness and who resides at least 100 kilometers away from the case venue shall not be punished with contempt or be arrested for failing to appear at the scheduled time and place for him or her to testify.

Section 10 of Rule 21 of the Revised Rules of Court states:

Exceptions. – The provisions of Sections 8 (Compelling attendance) and 9 (Contempt) shall not apply to a witness who resides more than one hundred (100) kilometers from his place of residence to the place where he is to testify by the ordinary course of travel…

So if by any chance you are called to become a witness to a particular case, remember that one could not be held in contempt or be arrested for failing to appear in court when one lives at least 100 kilometers from the case venue. In fact, the court directs that any witness who lives in a relatively distant area from the court would be given kilometrage fees or allowance for travel. The last time I read it was pegged at 100 pesos. But what does 100 pesos afford now? Could one travel from Quiapo to Makati and then back to Quiapo at a 100 pesos travel allowance? It would be so tight as an amount.

Now if the kilometrage fees have already been given, the witness would not anymore be in a position to excuse himself or herself from attending court hearings in order to testify and may already be held for contempt upon such failure.

The above discussion on the compulsion and punishment for non-response to a court order to become witness to a case is in consonance with the general provision on subpoenas where Section 1 of Rule 21 of the Revised Rules of Court provides:

Subpoena and subpoena duces tecum. – Subpoena is a process directed to a person requiring him to attend and to testify at the hearing or the trial of an action, or at any investigation conducted by competent authority, or for the taking of his deposition. It may also require him to bring with him any books, documents, or other things under his control, in which case it is called a subpoena duces tecum.