1/5/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly At the outset, the Court is always guided by the principle that rules shall be liberally construed in order to promote their objective of securing a just, speedy and inexpensive disposition of every action and proceeding.[32] Simply put, rules of procedure should facilitate an orderly administration of justice. They should not be strictly applied causing injury to a substantive right of a party to case. This precept has been elucidated by the Supreme Court in De Guzman v. Sandiganbayan[33] to wit: [T]he rules of procedure should be viewed as mere tools designed to facilitate the attainment of justice. Their strict and rigid application, which would result in technicalities that tend to frustrate rather than promote substantial justice, must always be avoided. Even the Rules of Court envision this liberality. This power to suspend or even disregard the rules can be so pervasive and encompassing so as to alter even that which this Court itself has already declared to be final, as we are now compelled to do in this case. And this is not without additional basis, x x x There are several instances wherein the Court has relaxed procedural rules to serve substantial justice because of any of the following reasons: (a) matters of life, liberty, honor or property; (b) the existence of special or compelling circumstances, (c) the merits of the case, (d) a cause not entirely attributable to the fault or negligence of the party favored by the suspension of the rules, (e) a lack of any showing that the review sought is merely frivolous and dilatory, and (t) the other party will not be unjustly prejudiced thereby.[34] Nonetheless, the Court always reminds party litigants that bare invocation of "the interest of substantial justice" is not a magic phrase that will automatically oblige the Court to suspend procedural rules. To stress, "[procedural rules are not to be belittled or dismissed simply because their non-observance may have prejudiced a party's substantive rights. Like all rules, they are required to be followed except only for the most persuasive of reasons when they may be relaxed to relieve a litigant of an injustice not commensurate with the degree of his thoughtlessness in not complying with the procedure prescribed."[35] The 2004 Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, also known as the ASEAN Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, was entered into by the Southeast Asian countries namely: Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, Republic of Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Union of Myanmar, Republic of the Philippines, Republic of Singapore, Kingdom of Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The Treaty aims to improve the effectiveness of the law enforcement authorities of the state parties in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of offenses through cooperation and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. Article 1, paragraph 2(a) of the Treaty states that mutual legal assistance can be rendered by the state parties in case of taking evidence or obtaining voluntary statements from persons, among others. The legal assistance sought by the Requesting Party from the Requested Party is not without limitations. In fact, Article 3 of the ASEAN ML AT has laid down guidelines on limitations on assistance. In particular, https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65855 14/22