4/9/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly An oath is a solemn declaration, accompanied by a swearing to God or a revered person or thing, that one’s statement is true or that one will be bound to a promise. The person making the oath implicitly invites punishment if the statement is untrue or the promise is broken. The legal effect of an oath is to subject the person to penalties for perjury if the testimony is false.[28] Indeed, the solemn promise, and the risk of punishment attached to an oath ensures truthfulness to the prospective public officer’s abandonment of his adopted state and promise of absolute allegiance and loyalty to the Republic of the Philippines. To hold the oath to be a mere pro forma requirement is to say that it is only for ceremonial purposes; it would also accommodate a mere qualified or temporary allegiance from government officers when the Constitution and the legislature clearly demand otherwise. Petitioner contends that the Australian Citizenship Act of 1948, under which she is already deemed to have lost her citizenship, is entitled to judicial notice. We disagree. Foreign laws are not a matter of judicial notice. Like any other fact, they must be alleged and proven.[29] To prove a foreign law, the party invoking it must present a copy thereof and comply with Sections 24 and 25 of Rule 132 of the Revised Rules of Court which reads: Sec. 24. Proof of official record. – The record of public documents referred to in paragraph (a) of Section 19, when admissible for any purpose, may be evidenced by an official publication thereof or by a copy attested by the officer having the legal custody of the record, or by his deputy, and accompanied, if the record is not kept in the Philippines, with a certificate that such officer has the custody. If the office in which the record is kept is in a foreign country, the certificate may be made by a secretary of the embassy or legation, consul general, consul, viceconsul, or consular agent or by any officer in the foreign service of the Philippines stationed in the foreign country in which the record is kept, and authenticated by the seal of his office. (Emphasis ours) Sec. 25. What attestation of copy must state. – Whenever a copy of a document or record is attested for the purpose of the evidence, the attestation must state, in substance, that the copy is a correct copy of the original, or a specific part thereof, as the case may be. The attestation must be under the official seal of the attesting officer, if there be any, or if he be the clerk of a court having a seal, under the seal of such court. The Court has admitted certain exceptions to the above rules and held that the existence of a foreign law may also be established through: (1) a testimony under oath of an expert witness such as an attorney-at-law in the country where the foreign law operates wherein he quotes verbatim a section of the law and states that the same was elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/55170 14/18