A.C. No. 7073 - FIRE OFFICER I DARWIN S. SAPPAYANI, COMPLAINANT, VS. ATTY. RENATO G. GASMEN.

Ruling

Accordingly, he recommended that Atty. Gasmen be suspended from the practice of law for a period of six (6) months and that his incumbent notarial commission be revoked. In addition, he should be disqualified from being commissioned as a notary public for a period of one (1) year, with a stern warning that a repetition of the same or similar offense shall be dealt with more severely. Commissioner Sordan found that the signature of Sappayani on the SPA was forged, and that Atty. Gasmen failed to exercise reasonable diligence or that degree of vigilance expected of a bonus pater familias. Thus, when he notarized a forged SPA and untruthfully certified that Sappayani was the very same person who personally appeared before him, he violated the Notarial Rules and, as a lawyer, the CPR. [8] In a Resolution [9] dated May 11, 2013, the IBP Board of Governors adopted and approved the IBP Commissioner's Report and Recommendation. [10] Atty. Gasmen moved for reconsideration, [11] which was denied in a Resolution [12] dated August 9, 2014. The Issue Before the Court The issue for the Court's resolution is whether or not the IBP correctly found Atty. Gasmen liable for violation of the Notarial Rules and the CPR. The Court's Ruling The findings of the IBP are well taken. The Court notes that both the SPA and the loan application subject of this case were notarized in 2000, during which Act No. 2711 [13] of the Revised Administrative Code of 1917, Title IV, Chapter 11, otherwise known as the "Notarial Law," in addition to Act No. 2103, [14] governed the rules on notaries public. Section 1 (a) of Act No. 2103 provides: Section 1. x x x (a) The acknowledgement shall be made before a notary public or an officer duly authorized by law of the country to take acknowledgements of instruments or documents in the place where the act is done. The notary public or the officer taking the acknowledgement shall certify that the person acknowledging the instrument or document is known to him and that he is the same person who executed it, and acknowledged that the same is his free act and deed. The certificate shall be made under his official seal, if he is by law required to keep a seal, and if not, his certificate shall so state. One of the obligations of a notary public is to authenticate documents acknowledged before him, certifying the truth thereof under his seal of office. [15] When acknowledging a document, it is required that the person who signed or executed the same, appears in person before the notary public and represents to the latter that the signature on the document was voluntarily affixed by him for the purposes stated in the document, declaring the same as his free and voluntary act and deed. [16] Thereafter, the notary public affixes his notarial seal on the instrument which certifies the due execution of the document, and resultantly, converts a private document into a public document which on its face, is entitled to full faith and credit. [17] In the di