Evidence, to be considered newly discovered, must be one that could not, by the exercise of due diligence, have been discovered before the trial in the court below.
The determinative test is the presence of due or reasonable diligence to locate the thing to be used as evidence in the trial.
For new trial to be granted on the ground of newly discovered evidence, the concurrence of the following conditions must obtain: (a) the evidence must have been discovered after trial; (b) the evidence could not have been discovered at the trial even with the exercise of reasonable diligence; (c) the evidence is material, not merely cumulative, corroborative, or impeaching; and (d) the evidence must affect the merits of the case and produce a different result if admitted. (BRIONES vs. PEOPLE, G.R. No. June 5, 2009, Second Division, Brion, J.).
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