JUDGE LILI LYDIA LAQUINDANUM, complainant

ATTY NESTOR QUINTANA, respondent

Facts:

This case was emanated from a letter addressed to the court filed by the complainant requesting that proper disciplinary action be imposed on the respondent for performing notarial functions beyond his jurisdiction and for allowing his wife to do notarial acts in his absence. In the letter by the complainant, she alleged that respondent is notarizing documents within the jurisdiction of RTC Midsayap, Cotabato which is outside his jurisdiction and Cotabato City is part of the province of Maguindanao and not Cotabato.

Issue:

Whether of not Atty Quintana be allowed to notarize beyond his territorial jurisdiction.

No. Under Section III of the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice, it provides that, “ a person commissioned as notary public may perform notarial acts in any place within the territorial jurisdiction of the commissioning court for a period of 2 years commencing the first day of January of the year in which the commissioning is made, unless earlier revoked or the notary public has resigned. Attty Quintana could not extend his notarial acts beyond Cotabato City and the province of Maguindanao because Midsayap, Cotabato is not part of Cotabato City or the province of Maguindanao. It also provides that a notary public is personally accountable for all entries in his notarial register; he cannot relieve himself of this responsibility by passing the buck to their secretaries. A person who is commissioned as a notary public takes full responsibility for all the entries in his notarial register. Respondent cannot take refuge claiming that it was his wife’s act and that he did not authorize his wife to notarize documents. He is personally accountable for the activities in his office as well as the acts of his personnel including his wife, who acts as his secretary.