A.C. No. 10793 - ATTY. BRYAN S. LIM AND NESTOR R. WONG, COMPLAINANTS, VS. ATTY. JOSE C. TABILIRAN, JR..D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, on January 3, 2012, Nestor signed the corresponding Deed of Sale of Virginia's land, which was prepared and notarized by respondent, a notary public. [7] After signing the Deed of Sale, Nestor signed other documents given by Esturco, which the latter claimed to be mere copies of the previous Deed of Sale. Thereafter, Nestor received the amount of P50,000.00 as the purchase price of the subject lot. [8] Several months later, Nestor was approached by Raul Jumanguin, the buyer's father, to borrow money and to disclose that Esturco showed him several deeds of sale, [9] namely: ( a ) Absolute Deed of Sale dated May 24, 2011, in favor of Esturco; ( b ) Absolute Deed of Sale dated May 24, 2012, in favor of Esturco; ( c ) Absolute Deed of Sale dated December 14, 2011, in favor of Esturco and respondent's son, Venus Baybayan Tabiliran (Venus); and ( d ) Absolute Deed of Sale dated February 20, 2012, in favor of Esturco and Venus. [10] Meanwhile, Esturco went to the Registry of Deeds to register the Absolute Deed of Sale dated May 24, 2011. She was required by Atty. Lim, the Acting Registrar of Deeds of the Province of Zamboanga del Norte, [11] to indicate the name of her spouse but she refused and instead, withdrew all her documents. Thereafter, on May 29, 2013 she filed a petition for mandamus , and on September 27, 2013, a disbarment case, against Atty. Lim. On March 23, 2014, Atty. Lim filed a counter-complaint [12] for disbarment against respondent, [13] claiming that the latter notarized documents with an expired commission, having been commissioned only for February 12, 2007 until December 31, 2008 ; July 23, 2009 until December 31, 2010 ; March 31, 2011 until December 31, 2012 ; and August 28, 2013 until December 31, 2014 , but nonetheless, notarized an Authorization on March 18, 2011 and a Confirmation of Deed of Sale of Land in June 2013 . Atty. Lim also averred that respondent failed to timely file certified true copies of the documents entered in his notarial register; falsified Nestor's Absolute Deed of Sale dated May 24, 2011; as well as falsified and notarized two (2) deeds of sale in favor of Esturco and his own son, Venus. [14] Furthermore, it was alleged that respondent notarized instruments not in the presence of Nestor, [15] and even filed false certified true copies of the documents entered in his notarial register. [16] For his part, [17] respondent averred that: ( a ) the Confirmation of Deed of Sale of Land [18] was signed by the parties sometime in June 2013 but was actually notarized and recorded after the approval of his commission on August 28, 2013; ( b ) the parties to the notarized documents were duly apprised that he was waiting for the renewal of his commission; ( c ) he did not falsify any documents since Nestor freely and voluntarily signed the same at his office; and ( d ) the contract was not immoral, and he has not committed any malpractice or gross misconduct in the exercise of his profession. [19] In a R