List of Pleadings Which Must Be Verified (Update #1)

Every law student knows of the urgency of the verification requirement; that a defective or absent verification when required may be cause of the outright junking of the pleading so impaired. Many clients have ended up befuddled, if not outraged, at seeing their complaints dismissed due to improper verification. Indeed, the verification requirement has been the cause for minor paranoia among lawyers in the Philippines, and the prudential rule has emerged that whenever in doubt, verify.

(Another common, often fatal flaw in verification is the continued adherence by some lawyers to the now obsolete rule that a pleading may be verified as “true and correct based on knowledge or belief”. Since the adoption of A.M. No. 00-2-10-SC, amending Section 4,  Rule 7  of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, pleadings must know be verified as “true and correct based on personal knowledge or based on authentic records.”)

Still, as a general rule, pleadings need not be verified, and it is only when required by statute or a procedural rule that a pleading should be verified. What follows below, for the benefit of practictioners, is a comprehensive list of pleadings filed before the courts or quasi-judicial agencies that are required to be verified.