Answer

The Answer is a pleading filed by the Defendant in an ordinary civil action. It is also known as a responsive pleading.

An Answer may also be filed by the Plaintiff in response to the Defendant's counterclaim. It may also be filed by a Defendant in response to a Co-Defendant's crossclaim.

Rule 6, Section 4 states: "An answer is a pleading in which a defending party sets forth his or her defenses."

There are two kind of defenses that can be raised in an Answer: negative and affirmative defenses.

A negative defense is one that denies the allegations in the Complaint (Section 5a) while an affirmative defense is one that hypothetically admits the allegations in the Complaint but alleges new matter that would prevent recovery by the Plaintiff (Section 5b).

Section 5. Defenses. — Defenses may either be negative or affirmative. 

 

(a) A negative defense is the specific denial of the material fact or facts alleged in the pleading of the claimant essential to his or her cause or causes of action. 

 

(b)  An  affirmative  defense  is  an allegation  of  a  new  matter  which,  while hypothetically admitting the material allegations in the pleading of the claimant, would nevertheless prevent or bar recovery by him or her. The affirmative defenses include fraud, statute of limitations, release, payment, illegality, statute of frauds, estoppel, former recovery, discharge in bankruptcy, and any other matter by way of confession and avoidance. 

 

Affirmative defenses may also include grounds for the dismissal of a complaint, specifically, that the court has no jurisdiction over the subject matter, that there is another action pending between the same parties for the same cause, or that the action is barred by a prior judgment. 

 

Negative defenses

There are three ways of alleging a negative defense, and these are found in Section 10 of Rule 8:

Section 10.Specific denial. — A defendant must specify each material allegation of fact the truth of which he or she does not admit and, whenever practicable, shall set forth the substance of the matters upon which he or she relies to support his or her denial. Where a defendant desires to deny only a part of an averment, he or she shall specify so much of it as is true and material and shall deny only the remainder. Where a defendant is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of a material averment made to the complaint, he or she shall so state, and this shall have the effect of a denial. 

The first way is by straight denial of an allegation in the Complaint. For example, the Complaint alleges:

3. The Defendant borrowed the sum of Php500,000 from the Plaintiff on January 15, 2022."

The Defendant can deny this outright by stating:

3. The Defendant specifically DENIES the allegation in paragraph 3 of the Complaint, the truth being that he never borrowed any amount of money from the Plaintiff on January 15, 2022 or or any other date."

The Rules of Court requires that the denial should be accompanied with a statement of the substance of what Plaintiff relies on to support his denial. In other words, it is important for him to state what the truth is as far as he is concerned. Otherwise, his denial will be considered an admission. 

To illustrate, suppose the Answer states in paragraph 3: 

3. The Defendant specifically DENIES the allegations in paragraph 3 of the Complaint."

This statement will be considered an admission even if he uses  the phrase "specifically denies." The reason is that it does not contain any assertion of what Defendant alleges as a fact. A general denial, and therefore an admission, will no longer require proof and cannot be contradicted unless shown to have been made with palpable mistake.

The second way is by making partial denial. Going back to the sample allegation in paragraph 3 of the Complaint, a partial denial would appear something like this:

"3. The Defendant ADMITS the allegation in paragraph 3 of the Complaint that he borrowed a sum of money from the Plaintiff on January 15, 2022 but DENIES that it was for the amount of Php500,000, the truth being that he borrowed only the sum of Php100,000."

The third way is known as "denial for disavowal of knowledge" or "denial for want to knowledge". Below are examples of allegations in the Complaint, an admission in the Answer, and a denial for want of knowledge:

Complaint:

 3. The Plaintiff purchased the Toyota Wigo car of the Defendant for Php500,000 on January 15, 2021.

4. The Plaintiff insured said car with XYZ insurance company on January 17, 2021 upon payment of premium in the sum of Php30,000.

Answer:

3. The Defendant ADMITS the allegation in paragraph 3 of the Complaint.

4.  The Defendant DENIES the allegation in paragraph 4 of the Complaint for lack of knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief on the truth or falsity thereof.

Note that the denial for want of knowledge is effective only if the Defendant is really not in a position to know if the allegation is true. Otherwise, the denial will be deemed an admission. In this example:

3. The Plaintiff and the Defendant entered into a contract of loan dated January 15, 2022 where the Defendant borrowed the sum of P500,000 from the Plaintiff and committed to pay the amount in full on June 15, 2022.

In this example, the Defendant is obviously in a position to state if the allegation is true or false. He cannot deny for want of knowledge, and if he does so, it will be deemed an admission.

Affirmative defenses

Affirmative defenses are those that hypothetically admit the allegations in the Complaint but introduce new matters which would absolve the Defendant from liability.

One affirmative defense is payment. The Defendant can admit that he borrowed a sum of money from the Plaintiff but allege that he has paid, and so he is no longer liable.

For example, the Complaint states:

3. The Defendant borrowed Php500,000 from the Plaintiff on January 15, 2022, promising to pay it in full on June 15, 2022.

The Answer states:

3. The Defendant ADMITS the allegation in paragraph 3 of the Complaint and by way of affirmative defense, alleges that on June 15, 2022, he paid the amount in full to the Plaintiff as shown by the receipt attached as Annex "A" and made an integral part hereof. 

 There are several affirmative defenses in Rule 8, Section 12 as well as Rule 6, Section 5b. These are:

1. The court has no jurisdiction over the person of the defending party
2. The venue is improperly laid
3. The plaintiff has no legal capacity to sue
4. The pleading asserting the claim states no cause of action
5. A condition precedent for filing the claim has not been complied with
6. Fraud
7. Statute of limitations
8. Release
9. Payment
10. Illegality
11. Statute of frauds
12. Estoppel
13. Former recovery
14. Discharge in bankruptcy
15. Any other matter by way of confession and avoidance.

Note that there is a difference between affirmative defense and affirmative relief. An affirmative defense is raised by the defending party to defeat the opposing party's claim. An affirmative relief is a remedy that either party is asking from the court to sustain its legal position. 

Examples of affirmative reliefs are: 

1. Motion to admit answer
2. Motion for additional time to file answer
3. Motion for reconsideration of a default judgment
4. Motion to lift order of default.

(See United Coconut Planters Bank versus Sps. Alison Ang-Sy, et al, GR No. 204753, March 27, 2019)

Admissions

Admissions in the Answer can be express or implied.

Express admissions are made when the Defendant directly admits the allegations in the Complaint. For example, the Complaint alleges in paragraph 1:

1. Plaintiff is a corporation organized and existing under Philippine laws with principal address at 12345 Sucar avenue, Paranaque City.

 The Defendant can admit this directly without causing harm to his defense and in order to abbreviate the proceedings, thus, he can state in his Answer:

1. Defendant ADMITS the allegation in paragraph 1of the Complaint.

Implied admissions are made in two ways: when the Answer does not specifically deny the allegations in the Complaint (as when the Answer does not mention anything about it); or when the Answer makes a general denial. Section 11 of Rule 8 states:

Section 11. Allegations not specifically denied deemed admitted.  —  Material averments in a pleading asserting a claim or claims, other than those as to the amount of unliquidated damages, shall be deemed admitted when not specifically denied.

What is the effect of an admission? The Defendant can no longer contradict it. Section 4, Rule 129 of the Revised Rules on Evidence as amended states:

Section 4.

Judicial admissions.

– An admission, oral or written, made by [the] party in the co

urse of the

proceedings in the same case, does not require proof. The admission may be contradicted only by showing

Section 4. Judicial admissions. – An admission, oral or written, made by [the] party in the course of the proceedings in the same case, does not require proof. The admission may be contradicted only by showing that it was made through palpable mistake or that the imputed admission was not, in fact, made.

Actionable documents 

There are times when the cause of action, or the defense, is based on an actionable document. These are documents on which the action or defense is based.

For instance, the Plaintiff's claim against the Defendant is based on a promissory note. That promissory note is an actionable document.

Here are the rules on pleading when actionable documents are involved:

Section 7.Action or defense based on document. -  Whenever an action or defense is based upon a written instrument or document, the substance of such instrument or document shall be set forth in the pleading, and the original or a copy thereof shall be attached to the pleading as an exhibit, which shall be deemed to be a part of the pleading. (7a) 

Section 8.How to contest such documents. - When an action or defense is founded upon a written instrument, or attached to the corresponding pleading as provided in the preceding section, the genuineness and due execution of the instrument shall be deemed admitted unless the adverse party, under oath specifically denies them, and sets forth what he or she claims to be the facts; but the requirement of an oath does not apply when the adverse party does not appear to be a party to the instrument or when compliance with an order for an inspection of the original instrument is refused. (8a)  

Counterclaims and cross-claims

A counterclaim is a claim raised by the Defendant against the Plaintiff, while a cross-claim is a claim raised by a Defendant against a co-Defendant.

If these are existing as of the time the Answer is filed, these should be included in the Answer.

Counterclaims may either be compulsory or permissive, while cross-claims should either be compulsory. Compulsory means that the claim arises out of the same transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the opposing party's claim. 

Factual basis

Similar to a Complaint, the Answer should include the names of the Defendant's witnesses and the substance of their testimonies, a list of the evidence to be presented by the Defendant, and copies of the judicial affidavits of the witnesses.

Relief sought, verification, certification against forum shopping

The Defendant should state the relief sought and include a verification if the Answer raises a counterclaim or cross-claim. If so, it should also include a Certification against Forum Shopping.

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