Question & AnswerQ&A (Act No. 3434)
The main purpose of Act No. 3434 is to provide necessary travel and subsistence expenses for indigent witnesses whose testimony is material and indispensable in criminal cases tried in Courts of First Instance.
An indigent witness is one who is known to be poor or without sufficient means to afford travel and subsistence expenses needed to appear in court for a criminal trial.
Act No. 3434 applies specifically to criminal cases tried in the Courts of First Instance.
The Act authorizes necessary traveling expenses for going and returning, as well as actual and necessary subsistence expenses not to exceed one peso per day while the witness is at the court's disposal.
The fiscal (prosecutor) or the attorney for the defense assigned to a pauper defendant must apply in writing and under oath to the court to secure the payment of travel and subsistence expenses for an indigent witness.
The court must determine that the witness's testimony is material and the witness is indigent before ordering the summons and payment of expenses.
The funds shall be appropriated by the provincial board or municipal board of the City of Manila (considered as a province) and paid out of these local government funds.
The expenses shall be assessed as part of the costs in the criminal case for reimbursement to the province concerned.
No. Indigent witnesses for the prosecution are not entitled to these benefits if the aggrieved party is represented by an attorney at the hearing.
No. The benefits of this Act do not extend to witnesses who, in the opinion of the court, are professional or habitual witnesses.
The Act took effect on January 1, 1929.