SC revokes Bohol-based lawyer's notarial services

The Supreme Court has revoked the notarial services of a Bohol-based lawyer after it was proven that he had notarized a legal document executed by a "dead" woman.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales and was concurred with by all the members of the SC third division, the High Tribunal ruled that lawyer Artemio Cabatos had failed to faithfully discharge his sacred duties as a notary public.

The records of the case show that it was Judge Gervacio Lopeña of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Tagbilaran-Clarin who filed the case against Cabatos for serious breach of professional ethics and grave misconduct.

Cabatos did not deny that he had notarized a Deed of Donation entered into between a woman named Crispina Panis and another person from barangay Panaytayon, Tubigon town in Bohol on June 24, 1981. Judge Lopeña said it is incredible for Cabatos not to know that Panis died on January 15, 1981, or five months before the execution of the deed of donation, as they are relatives.

Cabatos said he has been away from his place of birth at Panaytayon, Tubigon, Bohol since 1958 the reason why he did not recognize the woman in front of him who had requested for notarization was Crispina Panis.

He further claimed that since 1958, he never personally knew the late Crispina Panis nor his relation to her. Cabatos said that he only knew Panis after he was charged with falsification of public document before the court in Bohol.

The SC ruled that even if Cabatos would be exonerated from his criminal case filed before the court in Bohol in connection with his notarization of the questioned document, it does not exonerate him from his administrative case.

The High Tribunal ruled that notaries public must observe with utmost care the basic requirements in the performance of their duties.

"In this case, the respondent himself admitted that he did not exert any effort to find out if the person who acknowledged to have executed the Deed of Donation was really Crispina Panis. "Considering that Tubigon, Bohol is a very small town, it would have been easy to determine the real identity of the person claiming to have executed the document," the SC ruled. - Rene U. Borromeo