466 Phil. 305
AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ, J.:
Respondent was a notary public during all the time (1992 and 1993) material to the complaint.Commissioner Magpayo, Jr. found respondent guilty of negligence in the performance of his duty as a notary public and recommended his suspension from the practice of law for a period of three months with warning that repetition of the same or similar conduct in the future will be dealt with more severely.[2]
Complainants are the owners of a certain property (house and lot) located in Tanay, Rizal which was mortgaged to Dr. Epitacio R. Tongohan for a loan of P50,000.00.
Pursuant to this transaction, several related documents were caused to be executed namely: (1) Sinumpaang Kasunduan Salaysay Tungkol sa Lupang Sanlaan; (2) Dagdag na Paglilinaw Tungkol sa Lupang Sanlaan; (3) Sinumpaang Salaysay; (4) Sinumpaang Pangako Tungkol sa Lupang Sanglaang; and (5) Promissory Note (Sinumpaang Pangako) which were all notarized by herein respondent in his official capacity as notary public for the Province of Rizal.
Claiming that the signatures appearing on the documents to be forged, complainants filed criminal complaints for falsification of public documents against Dr. Tongohan, respondent Mateo and the instrumental witnesses which complaints were docketed as I.S. Nos. 94-269 and 94-2064 of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Rizal.
I.S. No. 94-269 which involves the document entitled Dagdag na Paglilinaw Tungkol sa Lupang Sanglaan” was dismissed by Pros. Marianito Santos while I.S. No. 94-2064 which was filed at a later time was dismissed as against respondent, but four (4) counts of falsification of public documents were filed in court against Tongohan and Trinidad Iposadas and one (1) count of falsification against Veronica Regondola. The latter two were the witnesses to the documents.
Herein complainants not entirely satisfied with the resolution of investigating prosecutor Jison D. Julian elevated I.S. No. 94-2064 to the Department of Justice on a petition for review.
The Department of Justice, speaking thru Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuסo, reversed the resolution in I.S. No. 94-2064 and directed that the questioned documents be referred to the NBI or PNP Crime Laboratory for appropriate examination and thereafter to conduct a re-investigation of the case and resolve the case anew based on the evidence adduced by the parties.…
After due examination of the questioned document (Sinumpaang Pangako Tungkol sa Lupang Sanglaan), the NBI issued “Questioned Documents Report No. 661-900 containing the conclusion: “The questioned signatures on one hand and the standard sample signatures on the other hand were not written by one and the same person.”
By the use of this forged documents, new tax declarations bearing Nos. 00-TN-001-3661 and 00-TN-001-3147 were issued in the name of Dr. Epitacio Tongohan effectively canceling Tax Declaration Nos. 00-001-1158 and 001-3217 in the name of complainant Vicente Follosco.[1]
Sec. 1. (a) The acknowledgment shall be before a notary public or an officer duly authorized by law of the country to take acknowledgments of instruments or documents in the place where the act is done. The notary public or the officer taking the acknowledgment shall certify that the person acknowledging the instrument or document is known to him and that he is the same person who executed it, acknowledged that the same is his free act and deed. The certificate shall be made under the official seal, if he is by law required to keep a seal, and if not, his certificate shall so state.From the foregoing, it is clear that the party acknowledging must appear before the notary public or any other person authorized to take acknowledgments of instruments or documents.[3]
The importance attached to the act of notarization cannot be overemphasized. Notarization is not an empty, meaningless, routinary act. It is invested with substantive public interest, such that only those who are qualified or authorized may act as notaries public. Notarization converts a private document into a public document thus making that document admissible in evidence without further proof of its authenticity. A notarial document is by law entitled to full faith and credit upon its face. Courts, administrative agencies and the public at large must be able to rely upon the acknowledgment executed by a notary public and appended to a private instrument.A notary public’s function should not be trivialized and a notary public must discharge his powers and duties which are impressed with public interest, with accuracy and fidelity. [7]
For this reason notaries public must observe with utmost care the basic requirements in the performance of their duties. Otherwise, the confidence of the public in the integrity of this form of conveyance would be undermined. Hence a notary public should not notarize a document unless the persons who signed the same are the very same persons who executed and personally appeared before him to attest to the contents and truth of what are stated therein. The purpose of this requirement is to enable the notary public to verify the genuineness of the signature of the acknowledging party and to ascertain that the document is the party's free act and deed.
Where the notary public is a lawyer, a graver responsibility is placed upon his shoulder by reason of his solemn oath to obey the laws and to do no falsehood or consent to the doing of any. The Code of Professional Responsibility also commands him not to engage in unlawful, dishonest, immoral or deceitful conduct and to uphold at all times the integrity and dignity of the legal profession. In Maligsa v. Cabanting, we emphatically pronounced:Under the facts and circumstances of the case, respondent’s notarial commission should not only be suspended as recommended by the IBP Board of Governors but respondent must also be suspended from the practice of law as recommended by the investigating commissioner.As a lawyer commissioned as notary public, respondent is mandated to subscribe to the sacred duties appertaining to his office, such duties being dictated by public policy impressed with public interest. Faithful observance and utmost respect of the legal solemnity of the oath in an acknowledgment or jurat is sacrosanct. Simply put, such responsibility is incumbent upon and failing therein, he must now accept the commensurate consequences of his professional indiscretion. By his effrontery of notarizing a fictitious or spurious document, he has made a mockery of the legal solemnity of the oath in an Acknowledgment.[10] (Emphasis supplied)