PUP COLLEGE OF LAW

COURSE OUTLINE IN LEGAL FORMS

An acknowledgment is the act of one who has executed a deed in going before some competent
officer or court and declaring it to be his act or deed; while a jurat is that part of an affidavit where the
officer certifies that the same was sworn before him.

A. LEGAL WRITING:
-is a type of technical writing used by lawyers, judges, legislators, and others in law to express legal analysis and legal rights and
duties. Legal writing in practice is used to advocate for or to express the resolution of a client's legal matter.

I. Distinguishing Features:

1.1. Authority
Legal writing places heavy reliance on authority. In most legal writing, the writer must back up assertions and statements
with citations to authority. This is accomplished by a unique and complicated citation system, unlike that used in any other
genre of writing. The standard methods for American legal citation are defined by two competing rule books: the ALWD
Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation and The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Different methods
may be used within the United States and in other nations.

1.2. Precedent
Legal writing values precedent, as distinct from authority. Precedent means the way things have been done before. For
example, a lawyer who must prepare a contract and who has prepared a similar contract before will often re-use, with
limited changes, the old contract for the new occasion. Or a lawyer who has filed a successful motion to dismiss a lawsuit
may use the same or a very similar form of motion again in another case, and so on. Many lawyers use and re-use written
documents in this way and call these re-usable documents templates or, less commonly, forms.

1.3. Grammar and Vocabulary

Legal writing extensively uses technical terminology that can be categorised in four ways:

1. Specialized words and phrases unique to law, e.g., tort, fee simple, and novation.
2. Ordinary words having different meanings in law, e.g., action (lawsuit), consideration (support for a promise), execute(to
sign to effect), and party (a principal in a lawsuit).
3. Archaic vocabulary: legal writing employs many old words and phrases that were formerly quotidian language, but today
exist mostly or only in law, dating from the 16th century; English examples
are herein, hereto, hereby, heretofore, herewith, whereby, and wherefore (pronominal adverbs); said and such (as
adjectives).
4. Loan words and phrases from other languages: In English, this includes terms derived from French (estoppel, laches,
and voir dire) and Latin (certiorari, habeas corpus, prima facie, inter alia, mens rea, sub judice) and are not italicised as
English legal language, as would be foreign words in mainstream English writing.

1.4. Formality
These features tend to make legal writing formal. This formality can take the form of long sentences, complex
constructions, archaic and hyper-formal vocabulary, and a focus on content to the exclusion of reader needs. Some of this
formality in legal writing is necessary and desirable, given the importance of some legal documents and the seriousness of
the circumstances in which some legal documents are used. Yet not all formality in legal writing is justified. To the extent
that formality produces opacity and imprecision, it is undesirable. To the extent that formality hinders reader
comprehension, it is less desirable. In particular, when legal content must be conveyed to nonlawyers, formality should
give way to clear communication.
What is crucial in setting the level of formality in any legal document is assessing the needs and expectations of the
audience. For example, an appellate brief to the highest court in a jurisdiction calls for a formal style—this shows proper
respect for the court and for the legal matter at issue. An interoffice legal memorandum to a supervisor can probably be less
formal—though not colloquial—because it is an in-house decision-making tool, not a court document. And an email
message to a friend and client, updating the status of a legal matter, is appropriately informal.
Transaction documents—legal drafting—fall on a similar continuum. A 150-page merger agreement between two large
corporations, in which both sides are represented by counsel, will be highly formal—and should also be accurate, precise,
and airtight (features not always compatible with high formality). A commercial lease for a small company using a small
office space will likely be much shorter and will require less complexity, but may still be somewhat formal. But a proxy
statement allowing the members of a neighborhood association to designate their voting preferences for the next board
meeting ought to be as plain as can be. If informality aids that goal, it is justified.
Many U.S. law schools teach legal writing in a way that acknowledges the technical complexity inherent in law and the
justified formality that complexity often requires, but with an emphasis on clarity, simplicity, and directness. Yet many
practicing lawyers, busy as they are with deadlines and heavy workloads, often resort to a template-based, outdated,

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 hyperformal writing style in both analytical and transactional documents. This is understandable, but it sometimes
unfortunately perpetuates an unnecessarily formal legal writing style.
Recently a variety of tools have been produced to allow writers to automate core parts of legal writing. For example,
automated tools may be used by transactional lawyers to check certain formalities while writing, and tools exist to help
litigators verify citations and quotations to legal authority for motions and briefs. [3]

II. Categories of Legal Writing:

Legal writing is of two, broad categories: (i) legal analysis and (ii) legal drafting. Legal analysis is two-fold: (1) predictive analysis,
and (2) persuasive analysis. In the United States, in most law schools students must learn legal writing; the courses focus on: (1)
predictive analysis, i.e., an outcome-predicting memorandum (positive or negative) of a given action for the attorney's client; and (2)
persuasive analysis, e.g., motions and briefs. Although not as widely taught in law schools, legal drafting courses exist; other types of
legal writing concentrate upon writing appeals or on interdisciplinary aspects of persuasion.

2.1. Predictive Legal Analysis

The legal memorandum is the most common type of predictive legal analysis; it may include the client letter or legal
opinion. The legal memorandum predicts the outcome of a legal question by analyzing the authorities governing the
question and the relevant facts that gave rise to the legal question. It explains and applies the authorities in predicting an
outcome, and ends with advice and recommendations. The legal memorandum also serves as record of the research done for
a given legal question. Traditionally, and to meet the legal reader's expectations, it is formally organized and written.

2.2. Persuasive Analysis

The persuasive document, a motion or a brief, attempts to persuade a deciding authority to favorably decide the dispute for
the author's client. Motions and briefs are usually submitted to judges, but also to mediators, arbitrators, and others. In
addition a persuasive letter may attempt to persuade the dispute's opposing party.
Persuasive writing is the most rhetorically stylized. So although a brief states the legal issues, describes authorities, and
applies authorities to the question—as does a memorandum—the brief's application portion is framed as an argument. The
author argues for one approach to resolving the legal matter and does not present a neutral analysis.

2.3. Legal Drafting

Legal drafting creates binding legal text. It includes enacted law like statutes, rule and regulations; contracts (private and
public); personal legal documents like wills and trusts; and public legal documents like notices and instructions. Legal
drafting requires no legal authority citation and generally is written without a stylised voice.

III. Plagiarism:
In writing an objective analysis or a persuasive document, including a memorandum or brief, lawyers write under the
same plagiarism rules applicable to most other writers,[4] with additional ethical implications for presenting copied materials as
original.[5] Legal memoranda and briefs must properly attribute quotations and source authorities; yet, within a law office, a lawyer
might borrow from other lawyers' texts without attribution, in using a well-phrased, successful argument made in a previous brief.
Plagiarism is strictly prohibited in academic work, especially in law review articles, seminar papers, and similar writings intended to
reflect the author's original thoughts.[6]
The drafting of legal documents such as contracts is different as, unlike in most other legal writing categories, it is common to use
language and clauses that are derived from form books, legal opinions and other documents without attribution. Lawyers use forms
documents when drafting documents such as contracts, wills, and judgments. The key difference between using phrases or
paragraphs from other legal documents, and copying in other contexts or copying the entire document, arises from the fact that
lawyers are effectively drawing upon a common pool of clauses that they adjust and modify for their own purposes. [7]

3.1. In the matter of the charges of plagiarism, etc., against Associate Justice
Nariano C. Del Castillo. [A.M. No. 10-7-17-SC]

FACTS: The Malaya Lolas received an adverse decision in the case Vinuya vs Romulo decided by the Supreme Court on April 28,
2010. The Malaya Lolas sought the annulment of said decision due to the alleged irregularity in the writing of the text of the decision.
Allegedly, the ponente of said case, Justice Mariano del Castillo copied verbatim portions of the decision laid down in said case from
three works by three foreign authors without acknowledging said authors hence an overt act of plagiarism which is highly
reprehensible.
Plagiarism as defined by Black’s Law Dictionary is the “deliberate and knowing presentation of another person’s original ideas or
creative expressions as one’s own.”
ISSUE: Whether or not plagiarism is applicable to decisions promulgated by the Supreme Court.
HELD: No. It has been a long standing practice in this jurisdiction not to cite or acknowledge the originators of passages and views
found in the Supreme Court’s decisions. These omissions are true for many of the decisions that have been penned and are being
penned daily by magistrates from the Court of Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, the Court of Tax Appeals, the Regional Trial Courts

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nationwide and with them, the municipal trial courts and other first level courts. Never in the judiciary’s more than 100 years of
history has the lack of attribution been regarded and demeaned as plagiarism.
As put by one author (this time acknowledged by the Court), Joyce C. George from her Judicial Opinion Writing Handbook:
A judge writing to resolve a dispute, whether trial or appellate, is exempted from a charge of plagiarism even if ideas, words
or phrases from a law review article, novel thoughts published in a legal periodical or language from a party’s brief are used
without giving attribution. Thus judges are free to use whatever sources they deem appropriate to resolve the matter before
them, without fear of reprisal. This exemption applies to judicial writings intended to decide cases for two reasons: the judge
is not writing a literary work and, more importantly, the purpose of the writing is to resolve a dispute. As a result, judges
adjudicating cases are not subject to a claim of legal plagiarism.
Further, as found by the Supreme Court, the omission of the acknowledgment by Justice del Castillo of the three foreign authors
arose from a clerical error. It was shown before the Supreme Court that the researcher who finalized the draft written by Justice del
Castillo accidentally deleted the citations/acknowledgements; that in all, there is still an intent to acknowledge and not take such
passages as that of Justice del Castillo’s own.

IV. Legalese:
Legalese is an English term first used in 1914[10] for legal writing that is very difficult for laymen to read and understand, the
implication being that this abstruseness is deliberate for excluding the legally untrained and to justify high fees. Legalese, as a term,
has been adopted in other languages. Legalese is characterized by long sentences, many modifying clauses, complex vocabulary, high
abstraction, and insensitivity to the layman's need to understand the document's gist. Legalese arises most commonly in legal
drafting, yet appears in both types of legal analysis.
Some important points in the debate of "legalese" v. "plain language" as the continued standard for legal writing include:
4.1. Public comprehensibility
Perhaps most obviously, legalese suffers from being less comprehensible to the general public than plain English, which can
be particularly important in both private (e.g., contracts) and public matters (e.g., laws, especially in democracies where the
populace is seen as both responsible for and subject to the laws).

4.2. Resistance to ambiguity

Legalese may be particularly resistant to misinterpretation, be it incidental or deliberate, for two reasons:

1. Its long history of use provides a similarly extensive background of precedent tied to the language. This precedent, as
discussed above, will be a strong determinant of how documents written in legalese will be interpreted.
2. The legalese language itself may be more precise when compared to plain English, having arisen from a need for such
precision, among other things.
Joseph Kimble, a modern plain-English expert and advocate, rejects the claim that legalese is less ambiguous in The Great
Myth that Plain Language is not Precise.[14] Kimble says legalese often contains so many convoluted constructions and
circumlocutions that it is more ambiguous than plain English.

4.3. Coverage of contingencies

Legal writing faces a trade off in attempting to cover all possible contingencies while remaining reasonably brief. Legalese
is characterized by a shift in priority towards the former of these concerns. For example, legalese commonly uses doublets
and triplets of words (e.g., "null and void" and "dispute, controversy, or claim") which may appear redundant or unnecessary
to laymen, but to a lawyer might reflect an important reference to distinct legal concepts.
Plain-English advocates suggest that no document can possibly cover every contingency, and that lawyers should not
attempt to encompass every contingency they can foresee. Rather, lawyers should only draft for the known, possible,
reasonably expected contingencies.

4.4. Expectation/preference

B. Notarial Laws and Rules

I. Legislative Enactments and Judicial Issuances:
1.1. Act No. 2103 – “An Act Providing for the Acknowledgement and
Authentication of Instruments and Documents Without the Philippine
Islands”
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AUTHENTICATION OF INSTRUMENTS AND DOCUMENTS
WITHOUT THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that:

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Section 1. An instrument or document acknowledged and authenticated in any State, Territory, the District of Columbia, or dependency of the
United States, shall be considered authentic if the acknowledgment and authentication are made in accordance with the following requirements:

(a) The acknowledgment shall be made 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, 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.

(b) The certificate of the notary public or the officer taking the acknowledgment shall be authenticated by the country clerk or his deputy,
or by a clerk or deputy clerk of any court of record of the county, municipality or judicial district wherein the acknowledgment is taken, or
by the secretary of state, executive secretary, or other similar functionary of the state, territory, the District of Columbia, or dependency of
the United States, as the case may be. The officer making the authentication shall certify under the seal of his office or court that the
person who took the acknowledgment was at the time duly authorized to act as notary public or that he was duly exercising the functions
of the office by virtue of which he assumed to act, and that as such he had authority under the law to take acknowledgment of instruments
or documents in the place where the acknowledgment was taken, and that his signature and seal, if any, are genuine.

Section 2. An instrument or document acknowledged and authenticated in a foreign country shall be considered authentic if the acknowledgment
and authentication are made in accordance with the following requirements:

(a) The acknowledgment shall be made before (1) an ambassador, minister, secretary of legation, chargé d’affaires, consul, vice-consul,
or consular agent of the United States,1 acting within the country or place to which he is accredited, or (2) a notary public or officer duly
authorized by law of the country to take acknowledgments of instruments or documents in the place where the act is done.

(b) The person 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, and acknowledged that the same is his free act and deed. The certificate shall be under his
official seal, if he is by law required to keep a seal, and if not, his certificate shall so state. In case the acknowledgment is made before a
notary public or an officer mentioned in subdivision (2) of the preceding paragraph, the certificate of the notary public or the officer
taking the acknowledgment shall be authenticated by an ambassador, minister, secretary of legation, chargé d’affaires, consul, vice-
consul, or consular agent of the United States,2 acting within the country or place to which he is accredited. The officer making the
authentication shall certify under his official seal that the person who took the acknowledgment was at the time duly authorized to act as
notary public or that he was duly exercising the functions of the office by virtue of which he assumed to act, and that as such he had
authority under the law to take acknowledgment of instruments or documents in the place where the acknowledgment was taken, and that
his signature and seal, if any, are genuine.

Section 3. Instruments or documents acknowledged and authenticated in substantial conformity with the provisions of this Act before the same
takes effect shall be considered authentic.

Section 4. This Act shall not be construed to repeal in any way any of the provisions contained in Chapter X, Part I, of Act Numbered One hundred
and ninety,3 entitled "An Act providing a code or procedure in civil actions and special proceedings in the Philippine Islands."

Enacted, January 26, 1912.

1.2. The Old Notarial Law – Section 245 to 246 of Act No. 2711 or the
Revised Administrative Code of the Philippines.

ARTICLE V

Notarial Register

SECTION 245. Notarial register. – Every notary public shall keep a register to be known as the notarial register, wherein record shall
be made of all his official acts as notary; and he shall supply a certified copy of such record, or any part thereof, to any person
applying for it and paying the legal fees therefor.

Such register shall be kept in books to be furnished by the Attorney-General to any notary public upon request and upon payment of
the actual cost thereof, but officers exercising the functions of notaries public ex officio shall be supplied with the register at
Government expense. The register shall be duly paged, and on the first page the Attorney-General shall certify the number of pages
of which the book consist.

[2657–279.]

SECTION 246. Matters to be entered therein – The notary public shall enter in such register, in chronological order, the nature of
each instrument executed, sworn to, or acknowledged before him, the person executing, swearing to, or acknowledging the
instrument, the witnesses, if any, to the signature, the date of the execution, oath, or acknowledgment of the instrument, the fees
collected by hint for his services as notary in connection therewith, and; when the instrument is a contract, he shall keep a correct
copy thereof as part of his records, and shall likewise enter in said records a brief description of the substance thereof, and shall give
to each entry a consecutive number, beginning with number one in each calendar year. The notary shall give to each instrument
executed, sworn to, or acknowledged before him a number corresponding to the one in his register, and shall also state on the
instrument the page or pages of his register on which the same is recorded. No blank line shall be left between entries.

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When a notary public shall protest any draft, bill of exchange, or promissory note, he shall make a full and true record in his notarial
register of all his proceedings in relation thereto, and shall note therein whether the demand or the sum of money therein mentioned
was made, of whom, when, and where; whether he presented such draft, bill, or note; whether notices were given, to whom, and in
what manner; where the same was made, and when, and to whom, and where directed; and of every other fact touching the same.

At the end of each week the notary shall certify in his register the number of instruments executed, sworn to, acknowledged, or
protested before him; or if none such, certificate shall show this fact.

[2657–280]

A certified copy of each month’s entries as described in this section and a certified copy of any instrument acknowledged before
them shall within the first ten days of the month next following be forwarded by the notaries public to the clerk of the Court of First
Instance of the province and shall be filed under the responsibility of such officer: Provided, That if there is no entry to certify for the
month, the notary shall forward a statement to this effect in lieu of the certified copies herein required.

[3068–1; C.A. 72–1.]

1.3. Official Oaths – Section 40 to 42, Book I, Chapter 10 of Executive Order

No. 292, series of 1987 – Administrative Code of 1987, as amended by Republic Act
No. 6733.

Official Oaths

SECTION 40. Oaths of Office for Public Officers and Employees.—All public officers and employees of the government including
every member of the armed forces shall, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, take an oath or affirmation to uphold and
defend the Constitution; that he will bear true faith and allegiance to it; obey the laws, legal orders and decrees promulgated by the
duly constituted authorities; will well and faithfully discharge to the best of his ability the duties of the office or position upon which
he is about to enter; and that he voluntarily assumes the obligation imposed by his oath of office, without mental reservation or
purpose of evasion. Copies of the oath shall be deposited with the Civil Service Commission and the National Archives.

SECTION 41. Officers Authorized to Administer Oath.—(1) The following officers have general authority to administer oath:
Notaries public, members of the judiciary, clerks of courts, the Secretary of the either House of the Congress of the Philippines, of
departments, bureau directors, registers of deeds, provincial governors and lieutenant-governors, city mayors, municipal mayors and
any other officer in the service of the government of the Philippines whose appointment is vested in the President.

(2) Oaths may also be administered by any officer whose duties, as defined by law or regulation, require presentation to him of any
statement under oath.

SECTION 42. Duty to Administer Oath.—Officers authorized to administer oaths, with the exception of notaries public, municipal
judges and clerks of court, are not obliged to administer oaths or execute certificates save in matters of official business; and with the
exception of notaries public, the officer performing the service in those matters shall charge no fee, unless specifically authorized by
law.

1.4. Presentation of Community Tax Certificate on Certain Occasions –

Section 163, Republic Act No. 7160, Local Government Code of 1991.

Section 163. Presentation of Community Tax Certificate On Certain Occasions. -

(a) When an individual subject to the community tax acknowledges any document before a notary public,
takes the oath of office upon election or appointment to any position in the government service; receives
any license, certificate. or permit from any public authority; pays any tax or free; receives any money from
any public fund; transacts other official business; or receives any salary or wage from any person or
corporation with whom such transaction is made or business done or from whom any salary or wage is
received to require such individual to exhibit the community tax certificate.

The presentation of community tax certificate shall not be required in connection with the registration of a
voter.

(b) When, through its authorized officers, any corporation subject to the community tax receives any
license, certificate, or permit from any public authority, pays any tax or fee, receives money from public
funds, or transacts other official business, it shall be the duty of the public official with whom such
transaction is made or business done, to require such corporation to exhibit the community tax certificate.

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 (c) The community tax certificate required in the two preceding paragraphs shall be the one issued for the
current year, except for the period from January until the fifteenth (15th) of April each year, in which case,
the certificate issued for the preceding year shall suffice.

1.5. Effect of Failure to Stamp Taxable Document – Section 201, title VII
(Documentary Stamp Tax) of Republic Act No. 8424 or the Tax Reform Act of
1997.

Section 201. Effect of Failure to Stamp Taxable Document. - An instrument, document or paper which is required
by law to be stamped and which has been signed, issued, accepted or transferred without being duly stamped,
shall not be recorded, nor shall it or any copy thereof or any record of transfer of the same be admitted or used in
evidence in any court until the requisite stamp or stamps are affixed thereto and cancelled.

1.6. 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice – A.M. No. 02-8-13-SC, SC En Banc

Resolution dated July 6, 2004.

JURAT VS. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

SEC. 6. Jurat. - “Jurat” refers to an act SECTION 1. Acknowledgment. -
in which an individual on a single “Acknowledgment” refers to an act in which an
occasion: individual on a single occasion:

(a) appears in person before the notary (a) appears in person before the notary public and
public and presents an instrument or presents an integrally complete instrument or
document; document;

(b) is personally known to the notary (b) is attested to be personally known to the notary
public or identified by the notary public public or identified by the notary public through
through competent evidence of identity as competent evidence of identity as defined by these
defined by these Rules; Rules; and -

(c) signs the instrument or document in
the presence of the notary; and
(c) represents to the notary public that the
signature on the instrument or document was
voluntarily affixed by him for the purposes stated
in the instrument or document, declares that he has
executed the instrument or document as his free
and voluntary act and deed, and, if he acts in a
particular representative capacity, that he has the
authority to sign in that capacity.

(d) takes an oath or affirmation before

the notary public as to such instrument
or document.

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JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
A.M. No. 02-8-13-SC
2004 Rules on Notarial Practice
RESOLUTION
Acting on the compliance dated 05 July 2004 and on
the proposed Rules on Notarial Practice of 2004
submitted by the Sub-Committee for the Study,
Drafting and Formulation of the Rules Governing the
Appointment of Notaries Public and the Performance
and Exercise of Their Official Functions, of the
Committees on Revision of the Rules of Court and on
Legal Education and Bar Matters, the Court Resolved
to APPROVE the proposed Rules on Notarial
Practice of 2004, with modifications, thus:
2004 RULES ON NOTARIAL PRACTICE
RULE I
IMPLEMENTATION
SECTION 1. Title. - These Rules shall be known as
the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice.
SEC. 2. Purposes. - These Rules shall be applied and
construed to advance the following purposes:
(a) to promote, serve, and protect public interest;
(b) to simplify, clarify, and modernize the rules
governing notaries public; and
(c) to foster ethical conduct among notaries public.
SEC. 3. Interpretation. - Unless the context of these
Rules otherwise indicates, words in the singular
include the plural, and words in the plural include the
singular.
RULE II
DEFINITIONS
SECTION 1. Acknowledgment. - a particular notarization as provided for by these
“Acknowledgment” refers to an act in which an
individual on a single occasion:
(a) appears in person before the notary public
and presents an integrally complete instrument or
document;
(b) is attested to be personally known to the
notary public or identified by the notary public
through competent evidence of identity as defined
by these Rules; and -
(c) represents to the notary public that the
signature on the instrument or document was
voluntarily affixed by him for the purposes stated
in the instrument or document, declares that he
has executed the instrument or document as his
free and voluntary act and deed, and, if he acts in
a particular representative capacity, that he has
the authority to sign in that capacity.
SEC. 2. Affirmation or Oath. - The term
“Affirmation” or “Oath” refers to an act in which an
individual on a single occasion:
(a) appears in person before the notary public;
(b) is personally known to the notary public or
identified by the notary public through competent
evidence of identity as defined by these Rules; and
(c) avows under penalty of law to the whole truth of
the contents of the instrument or document.
SEC. 3. Commission. - “Commission” refers to the
grant of authority to perform notarial acts and to the
written evidence of the authority.
Legal Forms –Reviewer
JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
SEC. 4. Copy Certification. - “Copy Certification”
refers to a notarial act in which a notary public:
(a) is presented with an instrument or document that
is neither a vital record, a public record, nor publicly
recordable;
(b) copies or supervises the copying of the instrument
or document;
(c) compares the instrument or document with the
copy; and
(d) determines that the copy is accurate and complete.
SEC. 5. Notarial Register. - “Notarial Register” refers
to a permanently bound book with numbered pages
containing a chronological record of notarial acts
performed by a notary public.
SEC. 6. Jurat. - “Jurat” refers to an act in which
an individual on a single occasion:
(a) appears in person before the notary public
and presents an instrument or document;
(b) is personally known to the notary public or
identified by the notary public through competent
evidence of identity as defined by these Rules;
chan robles virtual law library
(c) signs the instrument or document in the
presence of the notary; and
(d) takes an oath or affirmation before the notary
public as to such instrument or document.
SEC. 7. Notarial Act and Notarization. - “Notarial
Act” and “Notarization” refer to any act that a notary
public is empowered to perform under these Rules.
SEC. 8. Notarial Certificate. - “Notarial Certificate”
refers to the part of, or attachment to, a notarized
instrument or document that is completed by the
notary public, bears the notary's signature and seal,
and states the facts attested to by the notary public in
Rules.
SEC. 9. Notary Public and Notary. - “Notary Public”
and “Notary” refer to any person commissioned to
perform official acts under these Rules.
SEC. 10. Principal. - “Principal” refers to a person
appearing before the notary public whose act is the
subject of notarization.
SEC. 11. Regular Place of Work or Business. - The
term “regular place of work or business” refers to a
stationary office in the city or province wherein the
notary public renders legal and notarial services.
SEC. 12. Competent Evidence of Identity. - The
phrase “competent evidence of identity” refers to the
identification of an individual based on:
(a) at least one current identification document
issued by an official agency bearing the photograph
and signature of the individual; or
(b) the oath or affirmation of one credible witness
not privy to the instrument, document or transaction
who is personally known to the notary public and
who personally knows the individual, or of two
credible witnesses neither of whom is privy to the
instrument, document or transaction who each
personally knows the individual and shows to the
notary public documentary identification.
SEC. 13. Official Seal or Seal. - “Official seal” or
7
“Seal” refers to a device for affixing a mark, image or
impression on all papers officially signed by the
notary public conforming the requisites prescribed by
these Rules.
SEC. 14. Signature Witnessing. - The term “signature
witnessing” refers to a notarial act in which an
individual on a single occasion:
(a) appears in person before the notary public and
presents an instrument or document;
(b) is personally known to the notary public or
identified by the notary public through competent
evidence of identity as defined by these Rules; and
(c) signs the instrument or document in the presence
of the notary public.
SEC. 15. Court. - “Court” refers to the Supreme
Court of the Philippines.
SEC. 16. Petitioner. - “Petitioner” refers to a person
who applies for a notarial commission.
SEC. 17. Office of the Court Administrator. - “Office
of the Court Administrator” refers to the Office of the
Court Administrator of the Supreme Court.
SEC. 18. Executive Judge. - “Executive Judge” refers
to the Executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court of
a city or province who issues a notarial commission.
SEC. 19. Vendor. - “Vendor” under these Rules
refers to a seller of a notarial seal and shall include a
wholesaler or retailer.
SEC. 20. Manufacturer. - “Manufacturer” under
these Rules refers to one who produces a notarial seal
and shall include an engraver and seal maker.
RULE III
COMMISSIONING OF NOTARY PUBLIC
SECTION 1. Qualifications. - A notarial commission
may be issued by an Executive Judge to any qualified
person who submits a petition in accordance with
these Rules.
To be eligible for commissioning as notary public,
the petitioner:
(1) must be a citizen of the Philippines;
(2) must be over twenty-one (21) years of age;
(3) must be a resident in the Philippines for at
least one (1) year and maintains a regular place of
work or business in the city or province where the
commission is to be issued;
(4) must be a member of the Philippine Bar in
good standing with clearances from the Office of
the Bar Confidant of the Supreme Court and the
Integrated Bar of the Philippines; and
(5) must not have been convicted in the first
instance of any crime involving moral turpitude.
SEC. 2. Form of the Petition and Supporting
Documents. - Every petition for a notarial
commission shall be in writing, verified, and shall
include the following:
(a) a statement containing the petitioner's personal
qualifications, including the petitioner's date of birth,
residence, telephone number, professional tax receipt,
roll of attorney's number and IBP membership
number;
Legal Forms –Reviewer
JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
(b) certification of good moral character of the
petitioner by at least two (2) executive officers of the
local chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines
where he is applying for commission;
(c) proof of payment for the filing of the petition as
required by these Rules; and
(d) three (3) passport-size color photographs with
light background taken within thirty (30) days of the
application. The photograph should not be retouched.
The petitioner shall sign his name at the bottom part
of the photographs.
SEC. 3. Application Fee. - Every petitioner for a
notarial commission shall pay the application fee as
prescribed in the Rules of Court.
SEC. 4. Summary Hearing on the Petition. - The
Executive Judge shall conduct a summary hearing on
the petition and shall grant the same if:
(a) the petition is sufficient in form and substance;
(b) the petitioner proves the allegations contained in
the petition; and
(c) the petitioner establishes to the satisfaction of the
Executive Judge that he has read and fully
understood these Rules.
The Executive Judge shall forthwith issue a
commission and a Certificate of Authorization to
Purchase a Notarial Seal in favor of the petitioner.
SEC. 5. Notice of Summary Hearing. -
(a) The notice of summary hearing shall be
published in a newspaper of general circulation in the
city or province where the hearing shall be conducted
and posted in a conspicuous place in the offices of
the Executive Judge and of the Clerk of Court. The
cost of the publication shall be borne by the
petitioner. The notice may include more than one
petitioner.
(b) The notice shall be substantially in the following
form:
NOTICE OF HEARING
Notice is hereby given that a summary hearing on the
petition for notarial commission of (name of
petitioner) shall be held on (date) at (place) at (time).
Any person who has any cause or reason to object to
the grant of the petition may file a verified written
opposition thereto, received by the undersigned
before the date of the summary hearing.
_____________________
Executive Judge
SEC. 6. Opposition to Petition. - Any person who has
any cause or reason to object to the grant of the
petition may file a verified written opposition thereto.
The opposition must be received by the Executive
Judge before the date of the summary hearing.
SEC. 7. Form of Notarial Commission. - The
commissioning of a notary public shall be in a formal
order signed by the Executive Judge substantially in
the following form:
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF ______________
This is to certify that (name of notary public) of
(regular place of work or business) in (city or
8
province) was on this (date) day of (month) two
thousand and (year) commissioned by the
undersigned as a notary public, within and for the
said jurisdiction, for a term ending the thirty-first day
of December (year).
________________________
Executive Judge
SEC. 8. Period Of Validity of Certificate of
Authorization to Purchase a Notarial Seal. - The
Certificate of Authorization to Purchase a Notarial
Seal shall be valid for a period of three (3) months
from date of issue, unless extended by the Executive
Judge.
A mark, image or impression of the seal that may be
purchased by the notary public pursuant to the
Certificate shall be presented to the Executive Judge
for approval prior to use.
SEC. 9. Form of Certificate of Authorization to
Purchase a Notarial Seal. - The Certificate of
Authorization to Purchase a Notarial Seal shall
substantially be in the following form:
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF_____________
CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORIZATION
TO PURCHASE A NOTARIAL SEAL
This is to authorize (name of notary public) of (city
or province) who was commissioned by the
undersigned as a notary public, within and for the
said jurisdiction, for a term ending, the thirty-first of
December (year) to purchase a notarial seal.
Issued this (day) of (month) (year).
________________________
Executive Judge
SEC. 10. Official Seal of Notary Public. - Every
person commissioned as notary public shall have
only one official seal of office in accordance with
these Rules.
SEC. 11. Jurisdiction and Term. - 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 two (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 under these
Rules and the Rules of Court. chan robles virtual law
library
SEC. 12. Register of Notaries Public. - The Executive
Judge shall keep and maintain a Register of Notaries
Public in his jurisdiction which shall contain, among
others, the dates of issuance or revocation or
suspension of notarial commissions, and the
resignation or death of notaries public. The Executive
Judge shall furnish the Office of the Court
Administrator information and data recorded in the
register of notaries public. The Office of the Court
Administrator shall keep a permanent, complete and
updated database of such records. chan robles virtual
law library
SEC. 13. Renewal of Commission. - A notary public
may file a written application with the Executive
Judge for the renewal of his commission within forty-
five (45) days before the expiration thereof. A mark,
Legal Forms –Reviewer
JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
image or impression of the seal of the notary public
shall be attached to the application.cralaw
Failure to file said application will result in the
deletion of the name of the notary public in the
register of notaries public.cralaw
The notary public thus removed from the Register of
Notaries Public may only be reinstated therein after
he is issued a new commission in accordance with
these Rules. chan robles virtual law library
SEC. 14. Action on Application for Renewal of
Commission. - The Executive Judge shall, upon
payment of the application fee mentioned in Section
3 above of this Rule, act on an application for the
renewal of a commission within thirty (30) days from
receipt thereof. If the application is denied, the
Executive Judge shall state the reasons
therefor.cralaw
RULE IV
POWERS AND LIMITATIONS OF NOTARIES
PUBLIC
SECTION 1. Powers. - (a) A notary public is
empowered to perform the following notarial
acts:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
(1) acknowledgments;
(2) oaths and affirmations;
(3) jurats;
(4) signature witnessings;
(5) copy certifications; and
(6) any other act authorized by these Rules.
(b) A notary public is authorized to certify the
affixing of a signature by thumb or other mark on an
instrument or document presented for notarization if:
(1) the thumb or other mark is affixed in the presence
of the notary public and of two (2) disinterested and
unaffected witnesses to the instrument or document;
(2) both witnesses sign their own names in addition
to the thumb or other mark;
(3) the notary public writes below the thumb or other
mark: "Thumb or Other Mark affixed by (name of
signatory by mark) in the presence of (names and
addresses of witnesses) and undersigned notary
public"; and
(4) the notary public notarizes the signature by thumb
or other mark through an acknowledgment, jurat, or
signature witnessing.
(c) A notary public is authorized to sign on behalf of
a person who is physically unable to sign or make a
mark on an instrument or document if:
(1) the notary public is directed by the person unable
to sign or make a mark to sign on his behalf;
(2) the signature of the notary public is affixed in the
presence of two disinterested and unaffected
witnesses to the instrument or document;
(3) both witnesses sign their own names;
(4) the notary public writes below his signature:
“Signature affixed by notary in presence of (names
and addresses of person and two [2] witnesses)”; and
(5) the notary public notarizes his signature by
acknowledgment or jurat.
SEC. 2. Prohibitions. - (a) A notary public shall not
9
perform a notarial act outside his regular place of
work or business; provided, however, that on certain
exceptional occasions or situations, a notarial act may
be performed at the request of the parties in the
following sites located within his territorial
jurisdiction:
(1) public offices, convention halls, and similar
places where oaths of office may be administered;
(2) public function areas in hotels and similar places
for the signing of instruments or documents requiring
notarization;
(3) hospitals and other medical institutions where a
party to an instrument or document is confined for
treatment; and
(4) any place where a party to an instrument or
document requiring notarization is under detention.
(b) A person shall not perform a notarial act if the
person involved as signatory to the instrument or
document -
(1) is not in the notary's presence personally at the
time of the notarization; and
(2) is not personally known to the notary public or
otherwise identified by the notary public through
competent evidence of identity as defined by these
Rules.
SEC. 3. Disqualifications. - A notary public is
disqualified from performing a notarial act if he:
(a) is a party to the instrument or document that is to
be notarized;
(b) will receive, as a direct or indirect result, any
commission, fee, advantage, right, title, interest, cash,
property, or other consideration, except as provided
by these Rules and by law; or
(c) is a spouse, common-law partner, ancestor,
descendant, or relative by affinity or consanguinity of
the principal within the fourth civil degree.
SEC. 4. Refusal to Notarize. - A notary public shall
not perform any notarial act described in these Rules
for any person requesting such an act even if he
tenders the appropriate fee specified by these Rules
if:
(a) the notary knows or has good reason to believe
that the notarial act or transaction is unlawful or
immoral;
(b) the signatory shows a demeanor which engenders
in the mind of the notary public reasonable doubt as
to the former's knowledge of the consequences of the
transaction requiring a notarial act; and
(c) in the notary's judgment, the signatory is not
acting of his or her own free will.
SEC. 5. False or Incomplete Certificate. - A notary
public shall not:
(a) execute a certificate containing information
known or believed by the notary to be false.
(b) affix an official signature or seal on a notarial
certificate that is incomplete.
SEC. 6. Improper Instruments or Documents. - A
notary public shall not notarize:
(a) a blank or incomplete instrument or document; or
(b) an instrument or document without appropriate
notarial certification.
RULE V
FEES OF NOTARY PUBLIC
Legal Forms –Reviewer
JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
SECTION 1. Imposition and Waiver of Fees. - For
performing a notarial act, a notary public may charge
the maximum fee as prescribed by the Supreme Court
unless he waives the fee in whole or in part.
SEC. 2. Travel Fees and Expenses. - A notary public
may charge travel fees and expenses separate and
apart from the notarial fees prescribed in the
preceding section when traveling to perform a
notarial act if the notary public and the person
requesting the notarial act agree prior to the travel.
SEC. 3. Prohibited Fees. – No fee or compensation of
any kind, except those expressly prescribed and
allowed herein, shall be collected or received for any
notarial service.
SEC. 4. Payment or Refund of Fees. - A notary
public shall not require payment of any fees specified
herein prior to the performance of a notarial act
unless otherwise agreed upon.
Any travel fees and expenses paid to a notary public
prior to the performance of a notarial act are not
subject to refund if the notary public had already
traveled but failed to complete in whole or in part the
notarial act for reasons beyond his control and
without negligence on his part.cralaw
SEC. 5. Notice of Fees. - A notary public who
charges a fee for notarial services shall issue a receipt
registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and
keep a journal of notarial fees. He shall enter in the
journal all fees charged for services rendered. chan
robles virtual law library
A notary public shall post in a conspicuous place in
his office a complete schedule of chargeable notarial
fees.
RULE VI
NOTARIAL REGISTER
SECTION 1. Form of Notarial Register. - (a) A
notary public shall keep, maintain, protect and
provide for lawful inspection as provided in these
Rules, a chronological official notarial register of
notarial acts consisting of a permanently bound book
with numbered pages. chan robles virtual law library
The register shall be kept in books to be furnished by
the Solicitor General to any notary public upon
request and upon payment of the cost thereof. The
register shall be duly paged, and on the first page, the
Solicitor General shall certify the number of pages of
which the book consists.cralaw
For purposes of this provision, a Memorandum of
Agreement or Understanding may be entered into by
the Office of the Solicitor General and the Office of
the Court Administrator. chan robles virtual law
library
(b) A notary public shall keep only one active
notarial register at any given time.
SEC. 2. Entries in the Notarial Register. - (a) For
every notarial act, the notary shall record in the
notarial register at the time of notarization the
following: chan robles virtual law library
(1) the entry number and page number;
(2) the date and time of day of the notarial act;
(3) the type of notarial act;
(4) the title or description of the instrument,
10
document or proceeding;
(5) the name and address of each principal; chan
robles virtual law library
(6) the competent evidence of identity as defined by
these Rules if the signatory is not
personally known to the notary; chan robles virtual
law library
(7) the name and address of each credible witness
swearing to or affirming the person's identity;
(8) the fee charged for the notarial act;
(9) the address where the notarization was performed
if not in the notary's regular place of work or
business; and
(10) any other circumstance the notary public may
deem of significance or relevance.
(b) A notary public shall record in the notarial
register the reasons and circumstances for not
completing a notarial act.
(c) A notary public shall record in the notarial
register the circumstances of any request to inspect or
copy an entry in the notarial register, including the
requester's name, address, signature, thumbmark or
other recognized identifier, and evidence of identity.
The reasons for refusal to allow inspection or
copying of a journal entry shall also be
recorded.cralaw
(d) When the instrument or document is a contract,
the notary public shall keep an original copy thereof
as part of his records and enter in said records a brief
description of the substance thereof and shall give to
each entry a consecutive number, beginning with
number one in each calendar year. He shall also
retain a duplicate original copy for the Clerk of
Court.cralaw
(e) The notary public shall give to each instrument or
document executed, sworn to, or acknowledged
before him a number corresponding to the one in his
register, and shall also state on the instrument or
document the page/s of his register on which the
same is recorded. No blank line shall be left between
entries.cralaw
(f) In case of a protest of any draft, bill of exchange
or promissory note, the notary public shall make a
full and true record of all proceedings in relation
thereto and shall note therein whether the demand for
the sum of money was made, by whom, when, and
where; whether he presented such draft, bill or note;
whether notices were given, to whom and in what
manner; where the same was made, when and to
whom and where directed; and of every other fact
touching the same.cralaw
(g) At the end of each week, the notary public shall
certify in his notarial register the number of
instruments or documents executed, sworn to,
acknowledged, or protested before him; or if none,
this certificate shall show this fact.cralaw
(h) A certified copy of each month's entries and a
duplicate original copy of any instrument
acknowledged before the notary public shall, within
the first ten (10) days of the month following, be
forwarded to the Clerk of Court and shall be under
the responsibility of such officer. If there is no entry
to certify for the month, the notary shall forward a
statement to this effect in lieu of certified copies
herein required.cralaw
SEC. 3. Signatures and Thumbmarks. - At the time of
notarization, the notary's notarial register shall be
Legal Forms –Reviewer
JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
signed or a thumb or other mark affixed by
each:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
(a) principal;
(b) credible witness swearing or affirming to the
identity of a principal; and
(c) witness to a signature by thumb or other mark, or
to a signing by the notary public on behalf of a
person physically unable to sign.
SEC. 4. Inspection, Copying and Disposal. - (a) In
the notary's presence, any person may inspect an
entry in the notarial register, during regular business
hours, provided;
(1) the person's identity is personally known to the
notary public or proven through competent evidence
of identity as defined in these Rules;
(2) the person affixes a signature and thumb or other
mark or other recognized identifier, in the notarial
register in a separate, dated entry;
(3) the person specifies the month, year, type of
instrument or document, and name of the principal in
the notarial act or acts sought; and
(4) the person is shown only the entry or entries
specified by him.
(b) The notarial register may be examined by a law
enforcement officer in the course of an official
investigation or by virtue of a court order.
(c) If the notary public has a reasonable ground to
believe that a person has a criminal intent or
wrongful motive in requesting information from the
notarial register, the notary shall deny access to any
entry or entries therein.cralaw
SEC. 5. Loss, Destruction or Damage of Notarial
Register. - (a) In case the notarial register is stolen,
lost, destroyed, damaged, or otherwise rendered
unusable or illegible as a record of notarial acts, the
notary public shall, within ten (10) days after
informing the appropriate law enforcement agency in
the case of theft or vandalism, notify the Executive
Judge by any means providing a proper receipt or
acknowledgment, including registered mail and also
provide a copy or number of any pertinent police
report.
(b) Upon revocation or expiration of a notarial
commission, or death of the notary public, the
notarial register and notarial records shall
immediately be delivered to the office of the
Executive Judge.cralaw
SEC. 6. Issuance of Certified True Copies. - The
notary public shall supply a certified true copy of the
notarial record, or any part thereof, to any person
applying for such copy upon payment of the legal
fees.cralaw
RULE VII
SIGNATURE AND SEAL OF NOTARY PUBLIC
SECTION 1. Official Signature. – In notarizing a
paper instrument or document, a notary public
shall:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
(a) sign by hand on the notarial certificate only the
name indicated and as appearing on the notary's
commission; chan robles virtual law library
(b) not sign using a facsimile stamp or printing
device; and
(c) affix his official signature only at the time the
notarial act is performed.
11

SEC. 2. Official Seal. - (a) Every person
commissioned as notary public shall have a seal of
office, to be procured at his own expense, which shall
not be possessed or owned by any other person. It
shall be of metal, circular in shape, two inches in
diameter, and shall have the name of the city or
province and the word “Philippines” and his own
name on the margin and the roll of attorney's number
on the face thereof, with the words "notary public"
across the center. A mark, image or impression of
such seal shall be made directly on the paper or
parchment on which the writing appears.
(b) The official seal shall be affixed only at the time
the notarial act is performed and shall be clearly
impressed by the notary public on every page of the
instrument or document notarized. chan robles virtual
law library
(c) When not in use, the official seal shall be kept
safe and secure and shall be accessible only to the
notary public or the person duly authorized by him.
chan robles virtual law library
(d) Within five (5) days after the official seal of a
notary public is stolen, lost, damaged or other
otherwise rendered unserviceable in affixing a legible
image, the notary public, after informing the
appropriate law enforcement agency, shall notify the
Executive Judge in writing, providing proper receipt
or acknowledgment, including registered mail, and in
the event of a crime committed, provide a copy or
entry number of the appropriate police record. Upon
receipt of such notice, if found in order by the
Executive Judge, the latter shall order the notary
public to cause notice of such loss or damage to be
published, once a week for three (3) consecutive
weeks, in a newspaper of general circulation in the
city or province where the notary public is
commissioned. Thereafter, the Executive Judge shall
issue to the notary public a new Certificate of
Authorization to Purchase a Notarial Seal.cralaw
(e) Within five (5) days after the death or resignation
of the notary public, or the revocation or expiration
of a notarial commission, the official seal shall be
surrendered to the Executive Judge and shall be
destroyed or defaced in public during office hours. In
the event that the missing, lost or damaged seal is
later found or surrendered, it shall be delivered by the
notary public to the Executive Judge to be disposed
of in accordance with this section. Failure to effect
such surrender shall constitute contempt of court. In
the event of death of the notary public, the person in
possession of the official seal shall have the duty to
surrender it to the Executive Judge.cralaw
SEC. 3. Seal Image. - The notary public shall affix a
single, clear, legible, permanent, and
photographically reproducible mark, image or
impression of the official seal beside his signature on
the notarial certificate of a paper instrument or
document.cralaw
SEC. 4. Obtaining and Providing Seal. - (a) A vendor
or manufacturer of notarial seals may not sell said
product without a written authorization from the
Executive Judge.cralaw
(b) Upon written application and after payment of the
application fee, the Executive Judge may issue an
authorization to sell to a vendor or manufacturer of
notarial seals after verification and investigation of
the latter's qualifications. The Executive Judge shall
Legal Forms –Reviewer
JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
charge an authorization fee in the amount of PhP
4,000 for the vendor and PhP 8,000 for the
manufacturer. If a manufacturer is also a vendor, he
shall only pay the manufacturer's authorization
fee.cralaw
(c) The authorization shall be in effect for a period of
four (4) years from the date of its issuance and may
be renewed by the Executive Judge for a similar
period upon payment of the authorization fee
mentioned in the preceding paragraph.cralaw
(d) A vendor or manufacturer shall not sell a seal to a
buyer except upon submission of a certified copy of
the commission and the Certificate of Authorization
to Purchase a Notarial Seal issued by the Executive
Judge. A notary public obtaining a new seal as a
result of change of name shall present to the vendor
or manufacturer a certified copy of the Confirmation
of the Change of Name issued by the Executive
Judge.cralaw
(e) Only one seal may be sold by a vendor or
manufacturer for each Certificate of Authorization to
Purchase a Notarial Seal.cralaw
(f) After the sale, the vendor or manufacturer shall
affix a mark, image or impression of the seal to the
Certificate of Authorization to Purchase a Notarial
Seal and submit the completed Certificate to the
Executive Judge. Copies of the Certificate of
Authorization to Purchase a Notarial Seal and the
buyer's commission shall be kept in the files of the
vendor or manufacturer for four (4) years after the
sale.cralaw
(g) A notary public obtaining a new seal as a result of
change of name shall present to the vendor a certified
copy of the order confirming the change of name
issued by the Executive Judge.cralaw
RULE VIII
NOTARIAL CERTIFICATES
SECTION 1. Form of Notarial Certificate. - The
notarial form used for any notarial instrument or
document shall conform to all the requisites
prescribed herein, the Rules of Court and all other
provisions of issuances by the Supreme Court and in
applicable laws. chan robles virtual law library
SEC. 2. Contents of the Concluding Part of the
Notarial Certificate. – The notarial certificate shall
include the following:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
(a) the name of the notary public as exactly indicated
in the commission;
(b) the serial number of the commission of the notary
public;
(c) the words "Notary Public" and the province or
city where the notary public is commissioned, the
expiration date of the commission, the office address
of the notary public; and
(d) the roll of attorney's number, the professional tax
receipt number and the place and date of issuance
thereof, and the IBP membership number.
RULE IX
CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORITY OF NOTARIES
PUBLIC
SECTION 1. Certificate of Authority for a Notarial
Act. - A certificate of authority evidencing the
authenticity of the official seal and signature of a
notary public shall be issued by the Executive Judge
upon request in substantially the following form:
12
chan robles virtual law library
CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORITY FOR A
NOTARIAL ACT
I, (name, title, jurisdiction of the Executive Judge),
certify that (name of notary public), the person
named in the seal and signature on the attached
document, is a Notary Public in and for the
(City/Municipality/Province) of the Republic of the
Philippines and authorized to act as such at the time
of the document's notarization.chanrobles virtual law
library chan robles virtual law library
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have affixed below my
signature and seal of this office this (date) day of
(month) (year).chanrobles virtual law library chan
robles virtual law library
_________________
(official signature)
(seal of Executive Judge)
RULE X
CHANGES OF STATUS OF NOTARY PUBLIC
SECTION 1. Change of Name and Address. -
Within ten (10) days after the change of name of the
notary public by court order or by marriage, or after
ceasing to maintain the regular place of work or
business, the notary public shall submit a signed and
dated notice of such fact to the Executive Judge.
The notary public shall not notarize
until:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
(a) he receives from the Executive Judge a
confirmation of the new name of the notary public
and/or change of regular place of work or business;
and
(b) a new seal bearing the new name has been
obtained.
The foregoing notwithstanding, until the
aforementioned steps have been completed, the
notary public may continue to use the former name or
regular place of work or business in performing
notarial acts for three (3) months from the date of the
change, which may be extended once for valid and
just cause by the Executive Judge for another period
not exceeding three (3) months.
SEC. 2. Resignation. - A notary public may resign his
commission by personally submitting a written, dated
and signed formal notice to the Executive Judge
together with his notarial seal, notarial register and
records. Effective from the date indicated in the
notice, he shall immediately cease to perform notarial
acts. In the event of his incapacity to personally
appear, the submission of the notice may be
performed by his duly authorized
representative.cralaw
SEC. 3. Publication of Resignation. - The Executive
Judge shall immediately order the Clerk of Court to
post in a conspicuous place in the offices of the
Executive Judge and of the Clerk of Court the names
of notaries public who have resigned their notarial
commissions and the effective dates of their
resignation.cralaw
RULE XI
REVOCATION OF COMMISSION AND
DISCIPLINARY SANCTIONS
SECTION 1. Revocation and Administrative
Legal Forms –Reviewer
JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
Sanctions. - (a) The Executive Judge shall revoke a
notarial commission for any ground on which an
application for a commission may be denied. chan
robles virtual law library
(b) In addition, the Executive Judge may revoke the
commission of, or impose appropriate administrative
sanctions upon, any notary public
who:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
(1) fails to keep a notarial register;
(2) fails to make the proper entry or entries in his
notarial register concerning his notarial acts;
(3) fails to send the copy of the entries to the
Executive Judge within the first ten (10) days of the
month following;
(4) fails to affix to acknowledgments the date of
expiration of his commission;
(5) fails to submit his notarial register, when filled, to
the Executive Judge;
(6) fails to make his report, within a reasonable time,
to the Executive Judge concerning the performance
of his duties, as may be required by the judge;
(7) fails to require the presence of a principal at the
time of the notarial act;
(8) fails to identify a principal on the basis of
personal knowledge or competent evidence;
(9) executes a false or incomplete certificate under
Section 5, Rule IV;
(10) knowingly performs or fails to perform any
other act prohibited or mandated by these Rules; and
(11) commits any other dereliction or act which in
the judgment of the Executive Judge constitutes good
cause for revocation of commission or imposition of
administrative sanction.
(c) Upon verified complaint by an interested, affected
or aggrieved person, the notary public shall be
required to file a verified answer to the complaint. If
the answer of the notary public is not satisfactory, the
Executive Judge shall conduct a summary hearing. If
the allegations of the complaint are not proven, the
complaint shall be dismissed. If the charges are duly
established, the Executive Judge shall impose the
appropriate administrative sanctions. In either case,
the aggrieved party may appeal the decision to the
Supreme Court for review. Pending the appeal, an
order imposing disciplinary sanctions shall be
immediately executory, unless otherwise ordered by
the Supreme Court.
(d) The Executive Judge may motu proprio initiate
administrative proceedings against a notary public,
subject to the procedures prescribed in paragraph (c)
above and impose the appropriate administrative
sanctions on the grounds mentioned in the preceding
paragraphs (a) and (b).cralaw
SEC. 2. Supervision and Monitoring of Notaries
Public. - The Executive Judge shall at all times
exercise supervision over notaries public and shall
closely monitor their activities. chan robles virtual
law library
SEC. 3. Publication of Revocations and
Administrative Sanctions. - The Executive Judge
shall immediately order the Clerk of Court to post in
a conspicuous place in the offices of the Executive
Judge and of the Clerk of Court the names of notaries
public who have been administratively sanctioned or
whose notarial commissions have been
revoked.cralaw
SEC. 4. Death of Notary Public. - If a notary public
dies before fulfilling the obligations in Section 4(e),
13
Rule VI and Section 2(e), Rule VII, the Executive
Judge, upon being notified of such death, shall
forthwith cause compliance with the provisions of
these sections. chan robles virtual law library

RULE XII
SPECIAL PROVISIONS

SECTION 1. Punishable Acts. - The Executive Judge

shall cause the prosecution of any person
who:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary

(a) knowingly acts or otherwise impersonates a

notary public; chan robles virtual law library
(b) knowingly obtains, conceals, defaces, or destroys
the seal, notarial register, or official records of a
notary public; and
(c) knowingly solicits, coerces, or in any way
influences a notary public to commit official
misconduct.

SEC 2. Reports to the Supreme Court. - The

Executive Judge concerned shall submit semestral
reports to the Supreme Court on discipline and
prosecution of notaries public.

RULE XIII
REPEALING AND EFFECTIVITY PROVISIONS

SECTION 1. Repeal. - All rules and parts of rules,

including issuances of the Supreme Court
inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed or
accordingly modified. chan robles virtual law library

SEC. 2. Effective Date. - These Rules shall take

effect on the first day of August 2004, and shall be
published in a newspaper of general circulation in the
Philippines which provides sufficiently wide
circulation.
Promulgated this 6th day of July, 2004.

Legal Forms –Reviewer 14

JEFFREY E. DY, LPT
 LEGAL ETHICS &
PRACTICAL EXERCISES
2005 CENTRALIZED BAR OPERATIONS

1.7. Amendment to Section 12(a) of the 2004 Rules on

Notarial Practice – A.M. No. 02-8-13-SC, SC En Banc Resolution
dated February 19, 2008.

RE: 2004 RULES ON NOTARIAL PRACTICE -

The Court Resolved, upon the recommendation of the Sub Committee on the Revision of the Rules Governing
Notaries Public, to AMEND Sec. 12 (a). Rule II of the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice, to wit:

Sirs/Mesdames:

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of the Court En Banc dated February 19, 2008.

"A.M. No. 02-8-13-SC-Re: 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice. – The Court Resolved, upon the
recommendation of the Sub Committee on the Revision of the Rules Governing Notaries Public, to
AMEND Sec. 12 (a). Rule II of the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice, to wit:

Rule II

DEFINITIONS

xxx

"Sec. 12. Component Evidence of Identity. The phrase "competent evidence of identity" refers to the
identification of an individual based on:

(a) at least one current identification document issued by an official agency bearing the
photograph and signature of the individual, such as but not limited to, passport, driver’s
license, Professional Regulations Commission ID, National Bureau of Investigation clearance,
police clearance, postal ID, voter’s ID, Barangay certification, Government Service and
Insurance System (GSIS) e-card, Social Security System (SSS) card, Philhealth card, senior
citizen card, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) ID, OFW ID, seaman’s
book, alien certificate of registration/immigrant certificate of registration, government office
ID, certification from the National Council for the Welfare of Disable Persons (NCWDP),
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) certification; or

(b) xxxx."

Quisumbing, J., on official leave. Ynares-Santiago, J., on leave.

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

(adv127a)

Very truly yours.

MA. LUISA D. VILLARAMA (sgd)

Clerk of Court

C. Ex-Officio Notaries Public:

1.1. Power of Municipal Trial Court and Municipal Circuit Trial
Court judges to act as Notaries Public Ex-Officio, Supreme Court
Circular 1-90, February 26, 1990. 3
9
CIRCULAR NO. 1-90 February 26, 1990
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2005 CENTRALIZED BAR OPERATIONS

TO: ALL JUDGES OF THE METROPOLITAN TRIAL COURTS (METC), MUNICIPAL TRIAL
COURTS IN CITIES (MTCC), MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURTS (MTC), MUNICIPAL CIRCUIT TRIAL
COURTS (MCTC) SHARI'A COURTS, AND THE INTEGRATED BAR OF THE PHILIPPINES (IBP)

SUBJECT: POWER OF THE MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURT JUDGES AND MUNICIPAL CIRCUIT TRIAL
COURT JUDGES TO ACT AS NOTARIES PUBLIC EX OFFICIO

For the information and guidance of all concerned, quoted hereunder, is the Resolution of the Court En Banc,
dated December 19, 1989, in Administrative Matter No. 89-11-1303 MTC, "Re: Request for clarification on the
power of municipal trial court judges and municipal circuit trial court judges to act as Notaries Public Ex
Officio":

Acting on a query regarding the power of municipal trial court judges and municipal circuit trial court judges to
act in the capacity of notaries public ex officio in the light of the 1989 Code of Judicial Conduct, the Court
Resolved to issue a clarification on the matter.

Municipal trial court (MTC) and municipal circuit trial court (MCTC) judges are empowered to perform the
function of notaries public ex officio under Section 76 of Republic Act No. 296, as amended (otherwise known
as the Judiciary Act of 1948) and Section 242 of the Revised Administrative Code. But the Court hereby lays
down the following qualifications on the scope of this power:

MTC and MCTC judges may act as notaries public ex officio in the notarization of documents connected only
with the exercise of their official functions and duties [Borne v. Mayo, Adm. Matter No. 1765-CFI, October 17,
1980. 100 SCRA 314; Penera v. Dalocanog, Adm. Matter No. 2113-MJ, April 22, 1981, 104 SCRA 193.] They
may not, as notaries public ex officio, undertake the preparation and acknowledgment of private documents,
contracts and other acts of conveyances which bear no direct relation to the performance of their functions as
judges. The 1989 Code of Judicial Conduct not only enjoins judges to regulate their extra-judicial activities in
order to minimize the risk of conflict with their judicial duties, but also prohibits them from engaging in the
private practice of law (Canon 5 and Rule 5.07).

However, the Court, taking judicial notice of the fact that there are still municipalities which have neither
lawyers nor notaries public, rules that MTC and MCTC judges assigned to municipalities or circuits with no
lawyers or notaries public may, in the capacity as notaries public ex officio, perform any act within the
competency of a regular notary public, provided that: (1) all notarial fees charged be for the account of the
Government and turned over to the municipal treasurer (Lapena, Jr. vs. Marcos, Adm. Matter No. 1969-MJ,
June 29, 1982, 114 SCRA 572); and, (2) certification be made in the notarized documents attesting to the lack of
any lawyer or notary public in such municipality or circuit.

Feliciano, J., is on leave

February 26, 1990.

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

1.2. Guidelines relative to printing and distribution of notarial

books, 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice, A.M. No. 02-8-13-SC, SC En
Banc Resolution dated August 15, 2006.

Re: 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice

Sirs/Mesdames:

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated AUG 15 2006.

“A.M. No. 02-8-13-SC.- Re: 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice.- The Court Resolved to

(a) APPROVE the Proposed Guidelines in the Implementation of the Provisions of the Memorandum of
Agreement between the Office of the Court Administrator and the Office of the Solicitor General relative to 4
printing and distribution of Notarial Books, to wit: 0
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2005 CENTRALIZED BAR OPERATIONS

1. Notaries public who render legal and notarial services within the National Capital Judicial Region shall secure
their notarial registers from the Property Division, Office of the Administrative Services of the Office of the
Court Administrator (OCA).

2. Notaries public in other judicial regions shall secure their notarial registers from the Office of the Clerk of
Court (OCC) of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of the city or province under the supervision of the Executive
Judge who issued their respective notarial commissions. However, they may also secure notarial registers from
the Office of the Court Administrator.

3. Notarial registers shall be available at P1,200.00[1][1] each. Said amount shall cover only the costs of
printing and binding of the notarial registers exclusive of shipping charges when sold in the provinces.
Payments shall be made either to the Cash Division, Financial Management Office, OCA, or to the Clerk of
Court/accountable officer in the OCC of the RTC, as the case may be.

a. The amount collected shall be receipted and deposited to a separate account of the fiduciary fund to be known
as the “Notarial Register Fund” (NRF).

b. The Cash Division, FMO, OCA, shall maintain with the Land Bank of the Philippines a separate special
account of the fiduciary fund specifically for the NRF. A separate cashbook shall also be kept and maintained
for the fund. Withdrawals of deposits shall be made only upon authorization or approval by the Chief Justice or
his duly authorized representative.

c. The Court Administrator and the Financial Office of the OCA shall be the authorized signatories for this fund.

4. In view of the current unavailability of notarial registers, notaries public shall be allowed to use the temporary
form attached hereto. The notary public concerned shall file a written request to use the improvised form with
the executive judge that issued his commission. A copy of his current commission shall be attached to such
request.

The notaries public who have been authorized to use such forms shall have them book-bound and initialed on
each and every page by the executive judge before whom the request was filed. Each bound copy shall have a
maximum of 106 pages and shall be treated and used in the same manner as the new notarial book.

Each request shall be limited to one bound copy. Should the bound copy be used up before the new notarial
books are available, the notary public concerned may request anew for the use of bound temporary forms. The
use of bound temporary forms shall end when the new notarial books are available but, upon written request, the
executive judge may allow the notary public to use up the bound temporary forms.

5. The OCA shall, within the first ten (10) days of the first month of every quarter remit to the Office of the
Solicitor General an amount equivalent to 10% of the gross collections during the preceding quarter as the share
of the OSG in the sale of the notarial registers.

6. The printed certification of the Court Administrator as to the number of pages of each notarial register shall
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

be countersigned by the following:

a. In the National Capital Judicial Region, the official of the Office of the Court Administrator authorized by the
Court Administrator to so countersign; and

b. In the case of the other judicial regions, the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial Court of the city or province
where such book has been obtained for cost.

7. The Supreme Court Printing Office shall print the notarial registers. In the event the Printing Office cannot
meet the requirements of the OCA, and subject to Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Reform
Act), its implementing rules and regulations, and existing Supreme Court issuances on procurement, the Court
Administrator may contract out the printing of notarial registers to the following printers in the following order:

a. UP Printing Services
4
b. The National Printing Office, or
1
 LEGAL ETHICS &
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2005 CENTRALIZED BAR OPERATIONS

c. Private printing firm

The OCA shall resort to the third option only if the first two printers can not accommodate the requirements of
the Court.

After the approval by the Court of these guidelines, the OCA shall disseminate the same through a circular.

(b) DENY for lack of merit the motion filed by Chief Public Attorney Persida V. Rueda-Acosta, praying for a
reconsideration of the resolution of January 31, 2006 which denied her request for the exemption of PAO
lawyers from the payment of the fees for notarial commission and for the exemption of their clients from the
payment of filing fees;

(c) NOTE the letter dated September 5, 2005 of Mr. Prescillano Y. Aguinias, Jr.;

(d) CONFIRM the opinions of then Court Administrator Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr. and Deputy Court
Administrator Jose P. Perez that the Court does not render advisory opinions;

(e) INFORM Mr. Agunias, Jr. that neither does the Subcommittee on Revision of Rules Governing Notaries
Public render advisory opinions;

(f) AUTHORIZE the Clerks of Court of the Regional Trial Courts to notarize not only documents relating to the
exercise of their official functions but also private documents, subject to the following conditions: (i) all notarial
fees charged in accordance with Section 7(o) of Rule 141 of the Rules of Court, and, with respect to private
documents, in accordance with the notarial fee that the Supreme Court may prescribe in compliance with
Section 1, Rule V of the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice, shall be for the account of the Judiciary and (ii) they
certify in the notarized documents that there are no notaries public within the territorial jurisdiction of the
Regional Trial Court;

(g) DIRECT the Court Administrator to issue a circular for the purpose of implementing the above authority;
and

(h) ADOPT a consolidated and uniform rate of fees for notarial services.” Corona, J., on leave. Azcuna, J.,
abroad on official business.

Very truly yours,

(SGD.) MA. LUISA D. VILLARAMA

Clerk of Court

1.3. Cruz vs. Centron, A.M. No. P-02-1644 [November 11, 2004,
442 SCRA 53 (2004)]
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

FACTS:
Atty. Centron assisted a certain Gloria Logdat and Conchita de la Cruz in consummating the sale of a parcel of
land (OCT No. 2186) in the name of one Joaquina Jabat. Such assistance consisted in preparing and notarizing
the documents of sale.
The said sale is illegal because the property covered by the sale is still the subject of reconstitution and Extra-
Judicial Settlement among the heirs. As a result of the illegal sale, Logdat and de la Cruz are charged with estafa
through falsification of public documents. Atty. Centron took advantage of her being a lawyer to solicit the trust
and confidence of the buyers of the subject parcel of land.

Atty. Centron is involved in the disappearance of OCT No. 2186, and she refuses to surrender the title which is
in the possession of one of her relatives.
Hence this case of disbarment was filed by Logdat and De la Cruz against Atty. Centron.

In her Comment, Atty. Centron denied any involvement in the preparation of the documents and in the 4
consummation of the sale of the parcel of land covered by OCT No. 2186. She claims that her only participation 2
in the said sale is that she was the one who notarized the deed of sale on because she was requested by the
 LEGAL ETHICS &
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2005 CENTRALIZED BAR OPERATIONS

parties to notarize the same.

The Office of the Court Administrator held that Atty. Centron violated the provisions of Section 242 of the
Revised Administrative Code as well as Section G, Chapter VIII of the Manual for Clerks of Court when she
notarized a deed of conveyance, a document which is not connected with the exercise of her official functions
and duties as Ex-Officio Notary Public. Accordingly, she be fined in the amount of P2,000.00 and sternly
warned.

ISSUE: Whether or not Atty. Centron should be held liable.

RULING: Yes. In the present case, we find that complainant failed to present clear and preponderant evidence
to show that respondent had direct and instrumental participation in the preparation of documents and the
subsequent sale of the subject parcel of land covered by OCT No. 2186. Aside from the deed of sale covering
the subject parcel of land which was notarized by respondent, no competent evidence was shown that would
directly link her to the said sale.

While it may be logical to assume that Atty. Centron was the one who prepared the deed of sale since she was
the one who notarized it, we cannot give evidentiary weight to such a supposition in the absence of any evidence
to support it. Moreover, complainants allegation that Atty. Centron influenced the buyers is contradicted by the
sworn affidavit of Adelfa Manes, one of the buyers of the land. Manes attested to the fact that respondent did
not convince nor influence them in buying the subject property. Likewise, we find no competent evidence to
prove that Atty. Centron is responsible for the alleged loss of the owners duplicate copy of OCT No. 2186.

Nonetheless, we find that respondent is guilty of violating Section 41 (as amended by Section 2 of R. A. No.
6733) and Section 242 of the Revised Administrative Code, in relation to Sections G, M and N Chapter VIII of
the Manual for Clerks of Court.
Under these provisions, Clerks of Court are notaries public ex officio, and may thus notarize documents or
administer oaths but only when the matter is related to the exercise of their official functions. In the present
case, it is not within Atty. Centron competence, as it is not part of her official function and duty, to notarize the
subject deed of sale. Respondent is guilty of abuse of authority.

In the present case, it appearing that this is respondents first offense of this nature and that she has only
notarized one document, we find the OCAs recommended penalty of a fine of P2,000.00 commensurate to the
offense committed.

1.4. Tigno vs. Spouses Aquino, G.R. No. 129416, Novem ber 25,
2004, 444 SCRA 61 (2004)

FACTS:

The controversy in the present petition hinges on the admissibility of a single document, a deed of sale involving
interest over real property, notarized by a person of questionable capacity.
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

The facts alleged are as follows: Spouses Aquino wanted the enforcement of a deed of sale executed by Mr.
Bustria for a fishpond located in Pangasinan. Following this, a compromise agreement approved by the CFI of
Pangasinan was made. However, on 1986 Mr. Bustria died and was then represented by his daughter Zenaida
Tigno. Zenaida wanted that the right of repurchase be exercised by her through consignation but the same was
denied by the RTC.

Meanwhile Spouese Aquino alleged that the right to repurchase was already sold to them by Mr. Bustria in
1985. They presented two witnesses Mr. De Francia , who was the witness in the execution of the deed of sale,
and former Judge Carino who notarized the same. Zenaida Tigno objected to the admission of the deed of sale
saying that it was not acknowledged by Bustria, her father, and that it was previously unknown and was not
even presented during the Spouses Aquino’s opposition to her consignation. RTC ruled for Zenaida saying that
Bustria did not acknowledge it nor was it done through the assistance of a counsel. RTC also said that there
were inconsistencies in the statements of the witnesses presented by Spouses Aquino.
4
The CA issued a different ruling with the RTC. The CA stated that there were no substantial inconsistencies
with the statements of the witnesses De Francia and Judge Carino. Also, that the absence of acknowledgment
3
 LEGAL ETHICS &
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2005 CENTRALIZED BAR OPERATIONS

and substitution instead of a jurat did not make the instrument doubtful. Even the absence of counsel’s
representation did not render the same as void. It was noted that a notarized document carried in its favor the
presumption of regularity with respect to its due execution, and that there must be clear, convincing and more
than merely preponderant evidence to contradict the same.

ISSUE: Whether or not former Judge Carino has the capacity to notarize the alleged document in this present
case

HELD:

The notarial certification of the Deed of Sale reads as follows:

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES)

PROVINCE OF PANGASINAN ) S.S.
MUNICIPALITY OF ALAMINOS )

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this 17th day of October 1985 at Alaminos, Pangasinan
both parties known to me to be the same parties who executed the foregoing instrument.

FRANKLIN CARIÑO
Ex-Officio Notary Public
Judge, M.T.C.
Alaminos, Pangasinan

There are palpable errors in this certification. Most glaringly, the document is certified by way of a jurat instead
of an acknowledgment. A jurat is a distinct creature from an acknowledgment. An acknowledgment is the act of
one who has executed a deed in going before some competent officer or court and declaring it to be his act or
deed; while a jurat is that part of an affidavit where the officer certifies that the same was sworn before him.

[A notary ex officio] should not compete with private law practitioners or regular notaries in
transacting legal conveyancing business.

In the instant case, it was not proper that a city judge should notarize documents involving private transactions
and sign the document in this wise: "GUMERSINDO ARCILLA, Notary Public Ex-Officio, City Judge" In
doing so, he obliterated the distinction between a regular notary and a notary ex officio.
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

This Decision should again serve as an affirmation of the rule prohibiting municipal judges from notarizing
documents not connected with the exercise of their official duties, subject to the exceptions laid down in
Circular No. 1-90.

The Deed of Sale was offered in evidence as authentic by the Aquinos, who likewise insist that its enforceability
militates against Tigno's claim. Correspondingly, the burden falls upon the Aquinos to prove its authenticity and
due execution. The Court of Appeals clearly erred in not appreciating the Deed of Sale as a private document
and in applying the presumption of regularity that attaches only to duly notarized documents, as distinguished
from private documents.

However, if we were to instead believe De Francia, then the integrity of the notary public, Judge Cariño, would
be obviously compromised. Assuming that Judge Cariño had indeed authored the Deed of Sale, it would indeed
be odd that he would not remember having written the document himself yet sufficiently recall notarizing the
same. If his testimony as to authorship of the document is deemed as dubious, then there is all the reason to 4
make a similar assumption as to his testimony on the notarization of the Deed of Sale.
4
 LEGAL ETHICS &
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2005 CENTRALIZED BAR OPERATIONS

These inconsistencies are not of consequence because there is need to indubitably establish the author of the
Deed of Sale. They are important because they cast doubt on the credibility of those witnesses of the Aquinos,
presented as they were to attest to the due execution and authenticity of the Deed of Sale. The Court of Appeals
was clearly in error in peremptorily disregarding this observation of the RTC.

Since the validity of the Deed of Sale has been successfully assailed, Tigno's right to repurchase was not
extinguished at the time of the filing of the Petition for revival of judgment, as correctly concluded by the RTC.
The Court of Appeals being in error when it concluded otherwise, the reinstatement of the RTC Decision is
warranted.

1.5. Fuentes vs. Buno, A.M. No. MTJ-99-1204 (Formerly OCA IPI No.
97-355-MTJ), July 28, 2008, 560 S CRA 22 (2008)
FACTS:

1. Geronimo Fuentes filed a complaint wherein he alleged that he is one of the nine heirs of Bernardo
Fuentes, their father, who owned an agricultural land located at San Jose, Talibon, Bohol.

2. He also alleged that respondent judge prepared and notarized an "Extra-Judicial Partition with
Simultaneous Absolute Deed of Sale" of the said agricultural land, executed by complainant’s mother Eulalia
Credo Vda. de Fuentes, widow of Bernardo Fuentes, and Alejandro Fuentes, on his own behalf and on behalf of
his brothers and sisters, including Geronimo Fuentes, as heirs/vendors and one Ma. Indira A. Auxtero, as
vendee.

3. In the aforesaid document, the aforementioned agricultural land was sold, transferred and conveyed by the
heirs/vendors to the vendee despite the fact that in his Special Power of Attorney (SPA), he merely appointed
his brother, Alejandro Fuentes to mortgage said agricultural land but not to partition, much more to sell the
same.

4. According to complainant Geronimo Fuentes respondent judge notarized said document as ex-officio
Notary Public, thereby abusing his discretion and authority as well as committing graft and corruption.

5. In defense, respondent judge contended that he could not be charged of graft and corruption, since in a
municipality where a notary public is unavailable, a municipal judge is allowed to notarize documents or deeds
as ex-officio notary public.

ISSUE: Whether or not the respondent judge has authority to notarize the documents

RULING: No. While Section 76 of Republic Act No. 296, as amended, and Section 242 of the Revised
Administrative Code authorize MTC and MCTC judges to perform the functions of notaries public ex officio,
the Court laid down the scope of said authority.
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

SC Circular No. 1-90 prohibits judges from undertaking the preparation and acknowledgment of private
documents, contracts and other deeds of conveyances which have no direct relation to the discharge of their
official functions. In this case, respondent judge admitted that he prepared both the document itself, entitled
"Extra-judicial Partition with Simultaneous Absolute Deed of Sale" and the acknowledgment of the said
document, which had no relation at all to the performance of his function as a judge. These acts of respondent
judge are clearly proscribed by the aforesaid Circular.

While it may be true that no notary public was available or residing within respondent judge’s territorial
jurisdiction, as shown by the certifications issued by the RTC Clerk of Court and the Municipal Mayor of
Talibon, Bohol, SC Circular No. 1-90 specifically requires that a certification attesting to the lack of any lawyer
or notary public in the said municipality or circuit be made in the notarized document. Here, no such
certification was made in the Extra-Judicial Partition with Simultaneous Deed of Sale. Respondent judge also
failed to indicate in his answer as to whether or not any notarial fee was charged for that transaction, and if so,
whether the same was turned over to the Municipal Treasurer of Talibon, Bohol. Clearly, then, respondent 4
judge, who was the sitting judge of the MCTC, Talibon-Getafe, Bohol, failed to comply with the aforesaid 5
conditions prescribed by SC Circular No. 1-90, even if he could have acted as notary public ex-officio in the
 LEGAL ETHICS &
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2005 CENTRALIZED BAR OPERATIONS

absence of any lawyer or notary public in the municipality or circuit to which he was assigned.

D. Notarized Document as a Public Instrument:

1. Vda. De Rosales v. Ramos, A.C. No. 5645. July 2, 2002;
383 SCRA 498 (2002)

FACTS:

This is a case for disbarment for Atty. Ramos by the NBI in behalf of the petitioner for violation of Act. No.
2711 or the Notarial Law. This case stemmed from the borrowing of the original title to a parcel of land in
Paco,Manila by petitioner’s brother, Manuel. When petitioner wanted to recover the title, her brother refused.
As remedy, petitioner Rosalinda executed an affidavit of loss and presented it to the Register of Deeds of
Manila. However, to her surprise, the Register of Deeds informed her that the title to the subject land has
already been transferred to her brother, Manuel, via a deed of Absolute Sale to which Atty. Ramos notarized.

This prompted Rosalinda to file with the NBI a complaint for falsification of public documents against Atty.
Ramos. Respondent prayed for the dismissal of the complaint since according to him he only inadvertently
signed the purported Deed of Absolute Sale and/or that his signature was procured through mistake, fraud, undue
influence or excusable negligence, claiming that he simply relied on the assurances of Manuel that the document
would not be used for purposes other than a loan between brother and sister, and that he affixed his signature
thereon with utmost good faith and without intending to obtain personal gain or to cause damage or injury to
another.

HELD:

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.

We take note of respondent's admission in his Answer that he had affixed his signature in the purported Deed of
Absolute Sale but he did not enter it in his notarial registry. This is clearly in violation of the Notarial Law for
which he must be disciplined.

Respondent alleges that he merely signed the Deed of Absolute Sale inadvertently and that his signature was
procured through mistake, fraud, undue influence or excusable negligence as he relied on the assurances of
Manuel A. Bernardo, a kababayan from Pampanga, that the document would not be used for any illegal
purpose.

We cannot honor, much less give credit to this allegation. That respondent notarized the document out of
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sympathy for his kababayan is not a legitimate excuse. It is appalling that respondent did away with the basics
of notarial procedure in order to accommodate the alleged need of a friend and client. In doing so, he displayed
a decided lack of respect for the solemnity of an oath in a notarial document.

WHEREFORE, for lack of diligence in the observance of the Notarial Law, the commission of respondent
Atty. Mario G. Ramos as Notary Public, if still existing, is REVOKED and thereafter Atty. Ramos should be
DISQUALIFIED from reappointment to the office of Notary Public.

Respondent Atty. Mario G. Ramos is also SUSPENDED from the practice of law for a period of six (6) months
effective immediately. He is DIRECTED to report to this Court his receipt of this Decision to enable it to
determine when his suspension shall have taken.

3. Dela Cruz v. Zabala, A.C. No. 6294. November 17, 2004; 442 4
SCRA 407 (2004) 6
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Facts:
Complainant averred that he was retained by a certain Demetrio C. Marero to finance and undertake the filing of
a Petition for the Issuance of a Second Duplicate Original of the Owner’s copy of Original Certificate of Title
(OCT) No. 4153, in the names of Sps. Pedro Sumulong and Cirila Tapales.

On May 20, 1997, complainant purchased the said property from Marero and had the title transferred to him and
his wife. The next day, complainant requested a certain Mrs. Adoracion Losloso and Mr. Nestor Aguirre to
register the title in the complainant’s name at the Assessor’s Office of Antipolo City. However, they were
unable to do so because the property was already registered in the name of Antipolo Properties, Inc.

On May 27, 1997, respondent Zabala notarized a Deed of Absolute Sale over the same land, executed by Cirila
Tapales and Pedro Sumulong in favor of the complainant and his wife.

Mr. Marero filed a Complaint for Reconveyance of Title of the land, subject of the Deed of Sale which was
notarized by respondent, with damages against the complainant and his wife. The Deed of Sale was the same
document Marero used when he filed a complaint for Estafa thru Falsification of Public Document before the
Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office and in disbarment against the complainant.

To clear his name, complainant filed this complaint for disbarment against respondent. According to
complainant, respondent notarized an irregular document where one of the parties to the transaction was already
dead, grossly violating his oath as a notary public.

Issue: Whether or not Atty. Alejandro P. Zabala was negligent in his conduct as a notary public.

Ruling:
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 the truth of what are
stated therein. These acts of the affiants cannot be delegated because what are stated therein are facts they have
personal knowledge of and are personally sworn to. Otherwise, their representative’s names should appear in the
said documents as the ones who executed the same.

The function of a notary public is, among others, to guard against any illegal or immoral arrangements. By
affixing his notarial seal on the instrument, he converted the Deed of Absolute Sale, from a private document
into a public document. In doing so, respondent, in effect, proclaimed to the world that (1) all the parties therein
personally appeared before him; (2) they are all personally known to him; (3) they were the same persons who
executed the instruments; (4) he inquired into the voluntariness of execution of the instrument; and (5) they
acknowledged personally before him that they voluntarily and freely executed the same. As a lawyer
commissioned to be a notary public, respondent is mandated to discharge his sacred duties with faithful
observance and utmost respect for the legal solemnity of an oath in an acknowledgment or jurat. Simply put,
such responsibility is incumbent upon him, he must now accept the commensurate consequences of his
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professional indiscretion. His act of certifying under oath an irregular Deed of Absolute Sale without
ascertaining the identities of the persons executing the same constitutes gross negligence in the performance of
duty as a notary public.

4. Lee v. Tambago, A.C. No. 5281, February 12, 2008; 544 SCRA 393
(2008)

FACTS:
Complainant, Manuel L. Lee, charged respondent, Atty. Regino B. Tambago, with violation of Notarial Law
and the Ethics of the legal profession for notarizing a will that is alleged to be spurious in nature in containing
forged signatures of his father, the decedent, Vicente Lee Sr. and two other witnesses. In the said will, the
decedent supposedly bequeathed his entire estate to his wife Lim Hock Lee, save for a parcel of land which he
devised to Vicente Lee, Jr. and Elena Lee, half-siblings of complainant.
4
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The will was purportedly executed and acknowledged before respondent on June 30, 1965.Complainant,
however, pointed out that the residence certificateof the testator noted in the acknowledgment of the will was
dated January 5, 1962.Furthermore, the signature of the testator was not the same as his signature as donor in a
deed of donationwhich supposedly contained his purported signature. Complainant averred that the signatures of
his deceased father in the will and in the deed of donation were “in any way entirely and diametrically opposed
from one another in all angle[s].”

Complainant also questioned the absence of notation of the residence certificates of the purported witnesses
Noynay and Grajo. He alleged that their signatures had likewise been forged and merely copied from their
respective voters’ affidavits.

Complainant further asserted that no copy of such purported will was on file in the archives division of the
Records Management and Archives Office of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

ISSUE:
Was the will spurious?

HELD:
Yes, thus Tambago violated the Notarial Law and the ethics of legal profession. The law provides for certain
formalities that must be followed in the execution of wills. The object of solemnities surrounding
the execution of wills is to close the door on bad faith and fraud, to avoid substitution of wills and testaments
and to guarantee their truth and authenticity.

A notarial will, as the contested will in this case, is required by law to be subscribed at the end thereof by the
testator himself. In addition, it should be attested and subscribed by three or more credible witnesses in the
presence of the testator and of one another. The will in question was attested by only two witnesses. On this
circumstance alone, the will must be considered void. This is in consonance with the rule that acts executed
against the provisions of mandatory or prohibitory laws shall be void, except when the law itself authorizes their
validity. The Civil Code likewise requires that a will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the
testator and the witnesses. An acknowledgment is the act of one who has executed a deed in going before some
competent officer or court and declaring it to be his act or deed. It involves an extra step undertaken whereby the
signatory actually declares to the notary public that the same is his or her own free act and deed. The
acknowledgment in a notarial will has a two-fold purpose: (1) to safeguard the testator’s wishes long after
his demise and (2) to assure that his estate is administered in the manner that he intends it to be done.

A cursory examination of the acknowledgment of the will in question shows that this particular requirement was
neither strictly nor substantially complied with. For one, there was the conspicuous absence of a notation of the
residence certificates of the notarial witnesses Noynay and Grajo in the acknowledgment. Similarly, the notation
of the testator’s old residence certificate in the same acknowledgment was a clear breach of the law. These
omissions by respondent invalidated the will.

As the acknowledging officer of the contested will, respondent was required to faithfully observe the formalities
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of a will and those of notarization. These formalities are mandatory and cannot be disregarded.

5. Dela Cruz v. Dimaano, A.C. No. 7781, September 12, 2008; 565
SCRA 1 (2008)

FACTS:
In their complaint for disbarment against respondent Atty. Dimaano, complainants alleged that on July 16, 2004,
respondent notarized a document denominated as Extrajudicial Settlement of the Estate with Waiver of Rights
purportedly executed by them and their sister, Zenaida V.L. Navarro. According to complainants, respondent
had made untruthful statements in the acknowledgment portion of the notarized document when he made it
4
appear, among other things, that complainants "personally came and appeared before him" and that they affixed 8
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their signatures on the document in his presence.

In the process, complainants added, respondent effectively enabled their sister, Navarro, to assume full
ownership of their deceased parents' property in and sell the same to the Department of Public Works and
Highways.

The respondent however argued that "he notarized the document in good faith relying on the representation and
assurance of Zenaida Navarro that the signatures and the community tax certificates appearing in the document
were true and correct." Navarro would not, according to respondent, lie to him having known, and being
neighbors of, each other for 30 years.

ISSUES:

Whether or not respondent should be penalized for committing violations of his duties as a notary public.
What is the effect of a Notarized Document as a Public Instrument

RULING:
Yes, lawyers commissioned as notaries public are mandated to discharge with fidelity the duties of their offices,
such duties being dictated by public policy and impressed with public interest.
It must be remembered that notarization is not a routinary, meaningless act, for notarization converts a private
document to a public instrument, making it admissible in evidence without the necessity of preliminary proof of
its authenticity and due execution. A notarized document is by law entitled to full credit upon its face and it is
for this reason that notaries public must observe the basic requirements in notarizing documents. Otherwise, the
confidence of the public on notarized documents will be eroded.

E. Admissibility of Documents:
1. Classes of documents and Proof of private documents,
Sections 19 & 20, Rule 132 of the Revised Rules on Evidence

B. AUTHENTICATION AND PROOF OF DOCUMENTS

Section 19. Classes of Documents. — For the purpose of their presentation evidence, documents are either
public or private.
Public documents are:
(a) The written official acts, or records of the official acts of the sovereign authority, official bodies and
tribunals, and public officers, whether of the Philippines, or of a foreign country;
(b) Documents acknowledge before a notary public except last wills and testaments; and
(c) Public records, kept in the Philippines, of private documents required by law to the entered therein.
All other writings are private. (20a)
Section 20. Proof of private document. — Before any private document offered as authentic is received in
evidence, its due execution and authenticity must be proved either:
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(a) By anyone who saw the document executed or written; or

(b) By evidence of the genuineness of the signature or handwriting of the maker.
Any other private document need only be identified as that which it is claimed to be. (21a)

2. Public documents as evidence and Proof of notarial

documents, Sections 23 & 30, Rule 132 of the Revised Rules on
Evidence

Section 23. Public documents as evidence. — Documents consisting of entries in public records made in the
performance of a duty by a public officer are prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated. All other public
documents are evidence, even against a third person, of the fact which gave rise to their execution and of the
date of the latter. (24a)

Section 30. Proof of notarial documents. — Every instrument duly acknowledged or proved and certified as 4
provided by law, may be presented in evidence without further proof, the certificate of acknowledgment 9
being prima facie evidence of the execution of the instrument or document involved. (31a)
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3. Heirs of Amparo Del Rosario v. Santos, G.R. No. L-46892 September 30,
1981; 108 SCRA 43 (1981)

FACTS: Amparo Del Rosario entered into a contract with Atty. Andres Santos and his wife Aurora Santos
whereby the latter sold to the former a 20,000 sq. m. of land which is to be segregated from Lot 1. Said lot forms
part of the several lots belonging to a certain Teofilo Custodio, of which lots, Attorney Santos, by agreement
with the latter, as his attorney’s fees, owns ½ interests thereof. Parties agreed that spouses Andres shall
thereafter execute a Deed of Confirmation of Sale in favor of Del Rosario as soon as the title has been released
and the subdivision plan of said Lot 1 has been approved by the Land Registration Commissioner. Due to the
failure of the spouses Andres to execute the deed after the fulfilment of the condition, Del Rosario claims
malicious breach of a Deed of Sale. Defendant thereafter filed a motion to dismiss setting up the defenses of
lack of jurisdiction of the court over the subject of the action lack of cause of action as well as the defense of
prescription. They further alleged that the deed of sale was only an accommodation graciously extended, out of
close friendship between the defendants and the plaintiff, hence, tantamount to waiver, abandonment or
otherwise extinguishment of the demand set forth in the complaint. Finally, defendants alleged that the claim on
which the action or suit is founded is unenforceable under the statute of frauds and that the cause or object of the
contract did not exist at the time of the transaction. The lower court resolved to deny the motion to dismiss.
After actions by respective parties, the lower court ordered the defendants to execute and convey to plaintiff the
200,000 sq. m. of land to be taken either from Lot 4 or from Lot 5-A of Custodio’s lots, which defendants own
½ interest thereof. Aggrieved by the aforesaid decision, the defendants filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals
which certified the records of the case to the Supreme Court for final determination.

ISSUE: WON THE SALE IS VALID AS TO THE CAUSE OR OBJECT OF THE CONTRACT.

HELD: Yes. The Supreme Court held that the execution of the Deed of Sale is valid notwithstanding the lack of
any title to the lot by appellants at the time of execution of the Deed of Sale in favor of appellee as there can be
a sale of an expected thing in accordance with Article 1461 of the NCC: “Article 1461: Things having a
potential existence may be the object of the contract of sale. The efficacy of the sale of a mere hope of
expectancy is deemed subject to the condition that the thing will come into existence. The sale of a vain hope or
expectancy is void.” The case at bar is not a case of a vain hope or expectancy which is void under the law. The
expectant right came into existence or materialized for the appellants actually derived titles from Lot 1which
subsequently became the object of subdivision.

4. Permanent Savings and Loan Bank v. Velarde, G.R. NO. 140608,

September 23, 2004; 439 SCRA 1 (2004)

FACTS:

In a complaint for sum of money filed before the RTC, petitioner Permanent Savings and
Loan Bank sought to recover from respondent Mariano Velarde, the sum of P1,000,000.00
plus accrued interests and penalties, based on a loan obtained by respondent from
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petitioner bank as evidence by promissory notes. Petitioner bank sent a letter of demand to
respondent on July 27, 1988, demanding full payment of the loan. Despite receipt of said
demand letter, respondent failed to settle his account.

Velarde contends that he caused the preparation of the complaint and that all the
allegations thereat are true and correct; that the promissory note sued upon, assuming that
it exists and bears the genuine signature of herein defendant, the same does not bind him
and that it did not truly express the real intention of the parties as stated in the defenses

The Bank claims, that there is no need to prove the loan and its supporting papers as
Velarde has already admitted these. Velarde had in fact denied these in his responsive
pleading.

ISSUE: Whether or not the defendant has really executed the Promissory Note considering
the doubt as to the genuineness of the signature and as well as the non-receipt of the said 5
amount 0
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RULING: No. The mere presentation of supposed documents regarding the loan, but absent
the testimony of a competent witness to the transaction and the documentary evidence,
coupled with the denial of liability by the defendant does not suffice to meet the requisite
preponderance of evidence in civil cases.

The documents, standing alone, unsupported by independent evidence of their existence,

have no legal basis to stand on. They are not competent evidence. Such failure leaves this
Court without ample basis to sustain the plaintiff’s cause of action and other reliefs prayed
for. The loan document being challenged. Plaintiff did not exert additional effort to
strengthen its case by the required preponderance of evidence. On this score, the suit must
be dismissed.

The bank should have presented at least a single witness qualified to testify on the
existence and execution of the documents it relied upon to prove the disputed loan
obligations of Velarde. This falls short of the requirement that (B)efore any private writing
may be received in evidence, its due execution and authenticity must be proved either: (a)
By anyone who saw the writing executed; (b) By evidence of the genuineness of the
handwriting of the maker; or (c) By a subscribing witness. (Rule 132, Sec. 21, Rules of
Court)

5. Tigno v. Spouses Aquino, G.R. No. 129416. November 25,

2004; 444 SCRA 61 (2004)

FACTS:

The controversy in the present petition hinges on the admissibility of a single document, a deed of sale involving
interest over real property, notarized by a person of questionable capacity.

The facts alleged are as follows: Spouses Aquino wanted the enforcement of a deed of sale executed by Mr.
Bustria for a fishpond located in Pangasinan. Following this, a compromise agreement approved by the CFI of
Pangasinan was made. However, on 1986 Mr. Bustria died and was then represented by his daughter Zenaida
Tigno. Zenaida wanted that the right of repurchase be exercised by her through consignation but the same was
denied by the RTC.

Meanwhile Spouese Aquino alleged that the right to repurchase was already sold to them by Mr. Bustria in
1985. They presented two witnesses Mr. De Francia , who was the witness in the execution of the deed of sale,
and former Judge Carino who notarized the same. Zenaida Tigno objected to the admission of the deed of sale
saying that it was not acknowledged by Bustria, her father, and that it was previously unknown and was not
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even presented during the Spouses Aquino’s opposition to her consignation. RTC ruled for Zenaida saying that
Bustria did not acknowledge it nor was it done through the assistance of a counsel. RTC also said that there
were inconsistencies in the statements of the witnesses presented by Spouses Aquino.

The CA issued a different ruling with the RTC. The CA stated that there were no substantial inconsistencies
with the statements of the witnesses De Francia and Judge Carino. Also, that the absence of acknowledgment
and substitution instead of a jurat did not make the instrument doubtful. Even the absence of counsel’s
representation did not render the same as void. It was noted that a notarized document carried in its favor the
presumption of regularity with respect to its due execution, and that there must be clear, convincing and more
than merely preponderant evidence to contradict the same.

ISSUE: Whether or not former Judge Carino has the capacity to notarize the alleged document in this present
case

HELD: 5
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The notarial certification of the Deed of Sale reads as follows:

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES)

PROVINCE OF PANGASINAN ) S.S.
MUNICIPALITY OF ALAMINOS )

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this 17th day of October 1985 at Alaminos, Pangasinan
both parties known to me to be the same parties who executed the foregoing instrument.

FRANKLIN CARIÑO
Ex-Officio Notary Public
Judge, M.T.C.
Alaminos, Pangasinan

There are palpable errors in this certification. Most glaringly, the document is certified by way of a jurat instead
of an acknowledgment. A jurat is a distinct creature from an acknowledgment. An acknowledgment is the act of
one who has executed a deed in going before some competent officer or court and declaring it to be his act or
deed; while a jurat is that part of an affidavit where the officer certifies that the same was sworn before him.

[A notary ex officio] should not compete with private law practitioners or regular notaries in
transacting legal conveyancing business.

In the instant case, it was not proper that a city judge should notarize documents involving private transactions
and sign the document in this wise: "GUMERSINDO ARCILLA, Notary Public Ex-Officio, City Judge" In
doing so, he obliterated the distinction between a regular notary and a notary ex officio.

This Decision should again serve as an affirmation of the rule prohibiting municipal judges from notarizing
documents not connected with the exercise of their official duties, subject to the exceptions laid down in
Circular No. 1-90.

The Deed of Sale was offered in evidence as authentic by the Aquinos, who likewise insist that its enforceability
militates against Tigno's claim. Correspondingly, the burden falls upon the Aquinos to prove its authenticity and
due execution. The Court of Appeals clearly erred in not appreciating the Deed of Sale as a private document
and in applying the presumption of regularity that attaches only to duly notarized documents, as distinguished
from private documents.
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However, if we were to instead believe De Francia, then the integrity of the notary public, Judge Cariño, would
be obviously compromised. Assuming that Judge Cariño had indeed authored the Deed of Sale, it would indeed
be odd that he would not remember having written the document himself yet sufficiently recall notarizing the
same. If his testimony as to authorship of the document is deemed as dubious, then there is all the reason to
make a similar assumption as to his testimony on the notarization of the Deed of Sale.

These inconsistencies are not of consequence because there is need to indubitably establish the author of the
Deed of Sale. They are important because they cast doubt on the credibility of those witnesses of the Aquinos,
presented as they were to attest to the due execution and authenticity of the Deed of Sale. The Court of Appeals
was clearly in error in peremptorily disregarding this observation of the RTC.

Since the validity of the Deed of Sale has been successfully assailed, Tigno's right to repurchase was not
extinguished at the time of the filing of the Petition for revival of judgment, as correctly concluded by the RTC.
The Court of Appeals being in error when it concluded otherwise, the reinstatement of the RTC Decision is
warranted.
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F. Validity of Contracts:

General Rule: A defective notarization does not affect the validity of a contract.
1. Chong v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 148280, July 10, 2007
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FACTS:

On August 25, 1989, petitioner Loreta Agustin Chong filed a complaint for annulment of contracts and recovery
of possession against respondent-spouses Pedro and Rosita de Guzman, and Fortune Development Corporation
before the Regional Trial Court of Manila.

Petitioner alleged that she is the common-law wife of Augusto Chong; that on February 13, 1980, she bought a
parcel of land from respondent corporation as evidenced by Contract to Sell No. 195. She further stated that by
virtue of a special power of attorney that she executed in favor of Augusto, the latter sold the subject lot to
respondent spouses but it was not paid and despite repeated demands of surrender of the lot, the respondent
spouses did not heed.

In their amended answer, respondent-spouses asserted that the Transfer of Rights and Assumption of Obligation
was supported by sufficient consideration; that they paid P125,000.00, and not P25,000.00 as alleged by 5
petitioner, for the house on the subject lot; that the Deed of Sale over the house constructed on the subject lot 3
was signed by petitioner on February 22, 1987 while she was still in the country but it was notarized only on
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February 24, 1987 or after she had left to work abroad; that petitioner failed to allege or submit any actionable
document to prove her claim of ownership; that the house located in Singalong is owned by respondent-spouses.

The trial court rendered a decision in favor or respondent spouses. CA confirmed the lower court’s decision in
toto.

HELD:

The clear and unmistakable tenor of the Special Power of Attorney reveals that petitioner specifically authorized
Augusto to sell the subject lot and to settle her obligations to third persons. The Special Power of Attorney is a
duly notarized document and, as such, is entitled, by law, to full faith and credit upon its face. Notarization vests
upon the document the presumption of regularity unless it is impugned by strong, complete and conclusive
proof. Rather than challenging its validity, petitioner admitted in open court that she signed the Special Power of
Attorney with a full appreciation of its contents and without reservation.

The Court ruled that the sale of the subject lot and the house built thereon was made for valuable consideration
and with the consent of petitioner. Consequently, we affirm the findings of the lower courts which upheld the
validity of the transfer of petitioner’s rights over the subject lot as well as the sale of the house built thereon in
favor of respondent-spouses.

2. Competent evidence of the affiant’s identity – The President of the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. BTL Construction Corporation, G.R. No.
176439, February 26, 2007

FACTS:
1. COJCOLDS and BTL entered into a Construction Contract for the latter’s construction
of the former’s meeting house facility. However, due to bad weather conditions, power
failures, and revisions in the construction, the completion date of the Medina Project was
extended.

2. BTL informed COJCOLDS that it suffered financial losses from another project and
thereby requested that it be allowed to: (a) bill COJCOLDS based on 95% and 100%
completion of the Medina Project; and (b) execute deeds of assignment in favor of its
suppliers so that they may collect any eventual payments directly from COJCOLDS.
COJCOLDS granted said request which BTL, in turn, acknowledged.

3. BTL ceased its operations in the Medina Project because of its lack of funds to
advance the cost of labor necessary to complete the said project, as well as the supervening
increase in the prices of materials and other items for construction. Consequently,
COJCOLDS terminated its Contract with BTL on August 17, 2001 and, thereafter, engaged
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the services of another contractor, Vigor Construction (Vigor), to complete the Medina
Project.

4. BTL filed a complaint against COJCOLDS for damages

ISSUE: What are their liabilities to each other?

HELD:
I. Liabilities of COJCOLDS to BTL.
a. The 10% Retention Money and the Unpaid Balance of the Contract Price: Because the
10% retention money should not be treated as a separate and distinct liability of
COJCOLDS to BTL as it merely forms part of the contract price. While COJCOLDS is bound
to eventually return to BTL the amount of P1,248,179.87 as retention money, the said
amount should be automatically deducted from BTL’s outstanding billings. Ultimately,
COJCOLDS’s total liability to BTL should only be pegged at P1,612,017.74, representing the 5
unpaid balance of 98% of the contract price, inclusive of the 10% retention money.
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II. Liabilities of BTL to COJCOLDS.

a. Liquidated Damages Due to Delay: BTL’s liability to COJCOLDS for liquidated damages is
a result of its delay in the performance of its obligations under the Contract.
b. Cost Overrun: BTL should therefore reimburse COJCOLDS the said cost which the latter
incurred essentially because of BTL’s failure to complete the project as agreed upon.
c. Overpayments: Therefore obliged to return the same to COJCOLDS pursuant to Article
2154 of the Civil Code which states that "[i]f something is received when there is no right to
demand it, and it was unduly delivered through mistake, the obligation to return it arises."

III. Mutual Liabilities: Attorney’s Fees- NONE , because neither party was shown to have
acted in bad faith in pursuing their respective claims against each other. The existence of
bad faith is negated by the fact that the CIAC, the CA, and the Court have all found the
parties’ original claims to be partially meritorious.

Exceptions: Where the law requires notarization as a

requisite for validity.
1. Donation of immovable property
a. Article 749 of the Civil Code

Art. 749. In order that the donation of an immovable may be valid, it

must be made in a public document, specifying therein the property
donated and the value of the charges which the donee must satisfy.

b. Quilala v. Alcantara, G.R. No. 132681. December 3,

2001; 371 SCRA 311 (2001)

TOPIC: MAKING ANG ACCEPTANCE OF DONATION

G.R No.: 132681 December 3, 2001

FACTS:
On February 20, 1981, Catalina Quilala (donor) executed a "Donation of Real Property Inter
Vivos" in favor of Violeta Quilala (donee) over a parcel of land located in Sta. Cruz, Manila
and registered in her name.
The "Donation of Real Property Inter Vivos" consists of two pages. The first page contains
the deed of donation itself, and is signed on the bottom portion by Catalina Quilala and
Violeta Quilala, and two instrumental witnesses. The second page contains the
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Acknowledgment, which states merely that Catalina Quilala personally appeared before the
notary public and acknowledged that the donation was her free and voluntary act and deed.
There appear on the left-hand margin of the second page the signatures of Catalina Quilala
and one of the witnesses, and on the right-hand margin the signatures of Violeta Quilala
and the other witness. On November 7, 1983, Catalina Quilala died. Violeta Quilala likewise
died on May 22, 1984. Petitioner Ricky Quilala alleges that he is the surviving son of Violeta
Quilala.
Meanwhile, respondents Gliceria Alcantara, Leonora Alcantara, Ines Reyes and Juan Reyes,
claiming to be Catalina's only surviving relatives within the fourth civil degree of
consanguinity instituted an action for the declaration of nullity of the donation inter vivos,
and for the cancellation of the TCT in the name of Violeta Quilala. The trial court rendered a
decision declaring null and void the deed of donation of real property inter vivos executed
by Catalina Quilala in favor of Violeta Quilala. The trial court found that since it was
acknowledged before a notary public only by the donor, Catalina, there was no acceptance
5
by Violeta of the donation in a public instrument. The decision was affirmed by the CA.
5
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ISSUE: Whether or not the donation executed by Catalina in favor of Violeta is valid

HELD: valid even if the acknowledgment was only signed by the donor
Below the terms and stipulations of the donation, the donor, donee and their witnesses
affixed their signature. However, the Acknowledgment appearing on the second page
mentioned only the donor, Catalina Quilala. Thus, the trial court ruled that for Violeta's
failure to acknowledge her acceptance before the notary public, the same was set forth
merely on a private instrument, i.e., the first page of the instrument.
We disagree. As provided for in Section 112, paragraph 2 of PD No. 1529, the second page
of the deed of donation, on which the Acknowledgment appears, was signed by the donor
and one witness on the left-hand margin. The donee and the other witness signed on the
right hand margin. Surely, the requirement that the contracting parties and their witnesses
should sign on the left-hand margin of the instrument is not absolute. The intendment of
the law merely is to ensure that each and every page of the instrument is authenticated by
the parties. The requirement is designed to avoid the falsification of the contract after the
same has already been duly executed by the parties. Hence, a contracting party affixes his
signature on each page of the instrument to certify that he is agreeing to everything that is
written thereon at the time of signing.

Simply put, the specification of the location of the signature is merely directory. The fact
that one of the parties signs on the wrong side of the page does not invalidate the
document.
In the same vein, the lack of an acknowledgment by the donee before the notary public does
not also render the donation null and void. The instrument should be treated in its entirety.
It cannot be considered a private document in part and a public document in another part.
The fact that it was acknowledged before a notary public converts the deed of donation in
its entirety a public instrument. The fact that the donee was not mentioned by the notary
public in the acknowledgment is of no moment. To be sure, it is the conveyance that should
be acknowledged as a free and voluntary act. In any event, the donee signed on the second
page, which contains the Acknowledgment only. Her acceptance, which is explicitly set forth
on the first page of the notarized deed of donation, was made in a public instrument.
Petition is granted. The appealed decision of the CA is reversed.

c. Abellana v. Spouses Ponce, G.R. No. 160488,

September 3, 2004; 437 SCRA 531 (2004)

FACTS:

Felomina, the aunt of private respondent Lucila Ponce, purchased from the late Estela
Caldoza-Pacres an agricultural lot with the intention of giving said lot to her niece, Lucila.
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Thus, in the deed of sale, the latter was designated as the buyer of the lot covered by an
OCT located at Los Angeles, Butuan City. The total consideration of the sale was
P16,500.00, but only P4,500.00 was stated in the deed upon the request of the seller.

Subsequently, Felomina applied for the issuance of title in the name of her niece. TCT over
the subject lot was issued in the name of Lucila. Said title, however, remained in the
possession of Felomina who developed the lot through Juanario Torreon and paid real
property taxes thereon.

The relationship between Felomina and respondent spouses Romeo and Lucila Ponce,
however, turned sour. The latter allegedly became disrespectful and ungrateful to the point
of hurling her insults and even attempting to hurt her physically. Hence, Felomina filed the
instant case for revocation of implied trust to recover legal title over the property.

Private respondent spouses Lucila and Romeo, on the other hand, claimed that the 5
purchase price of the lot was only P4,500.00 and that it was them who paid the same. The 6
payment and signing of the deed of sale allegedly took place in the office of Atty. Teodoro
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Emboy in the presence of the seller and her siblings namely, Aquilino Caldoza and the late
Lilia Caldoza.

The trial court rendered a decision holding that an implied trust existed between Felomina
and Lucila, such that the latter is merely holding the lot for the benefit of the former. It thus
ordered the conveyance of the subject lot in favor of Felomina.

The Court of Appeals set aside the decision of the trial court ruling that Felomina failed to
prove the existence of an implied trust and upheld respondent spouses ownership over the
litigated lot.

ISSUE: Who, as between Felomina and respondent spouses, is the lawful owner of the
controverted lot?

RULING: It was Felomina and not Lucila who truly purchased the questioned lot from
Estela. The donation of immovable property by Felomina to Lucila is void.

Under Article 749 of the Civil Code, in order that the donation of an immovable property
may be valid, it must be made in a public document, specifying therein the property
donated and the value of the charges which the donee must satisfy. The acceptance may be
made in the same deed of donation or in a separate public document, but it shall not take
effect unless it is done during the lifetime of the donor. If the acceptance is made in a
separate instrument, the donor shall be notified thereof in an authentic form, and this step
shall be noted in both instruments.

In the instant case, what transpired between Felomina and Lucila was a donation of an
immovable property which was not embodied in a public instrument as required by the
foregoing article. Being an oral donation, the transaction was void. Moreover, even if
Felomina enjoyed the fruits of the land with the intention of giving effect to the donation
after her demise, the conveyance is still a void donation mortis causa, for non-compliance
with the formalities of a will. No valid title passed regardless of the intention of Felomina to
donate the property to Lucila, because the naked intent to convey without the required
solemnities does not suffice for gratuitous alienations, even as between the parties inter se.
At any rate, Felomina now seeks to recover title over the property because of the alleged
ingratitude of the respondent spouses.

2. Partnership where immovable is contributed

a. Article 1771 to 1773 of the Civil Code

Art. 1771. A partnership may be constituted in any form, except where immovable property or real
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rights are contributed thereto, in which case a public instrument shall be necessary. (1667a)

Art. 1772. Every contract of partnership having a capital of three thousand pesos or more, in money or
property, shall appear in a public instrument, which must be recorded in the Office of the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
Failure to comply with the requirements of the preceding paragraph shall not affect the liability of the
partnership and the members thereof to third persons. (n)

Art. 1773. A contract of partnership is void, whenever immovable property is contributed thereto, if an
inventory of said property is not made, signed by the parties, and attached to the public instrument.
(1668a)

3. Notarial Will
a. Article 805 and 806 of the Civil Code 5
7
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Art. 805. Every will, other than a holographic will, must be subscribed at the end thereof
by the testator himself or by the testator's name written by some other person in his
presence, and by his express direction, and attested and subscribed by three or more
credible witnesses in the presence of the testator and of one another.

The testator or the person requested by him to write his name and the instrumental
witnesses of the will, shall also sign, as aforesaid, each and every page thereof, except the
last, on the left margin, and all the pages shall be numbered correlatively in letters placed
on the upper part of each page.

The attestation shall state the number of pages used upon which the will is written, and the
fact that the testator signed the will and every page thereof, or caused some other person to
write his name, under his express direction, in the presence of the instrumental witnesses,
and that the latter witnessed and signed the will and all the pages thereof in the presence of
the testator and of one another.

If the attestation clause is in a language not known to the witnesses, it shall be interpreted
to them. (n)

Art. 806. Every will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the testator and the
witnesses. The notary public shall not be required to retain a copy of the will, or file another
with the Office of the Clerk of Court. (n)

c. Garcia v. Gatchalian, G.R. No. L-20357, November

25, 1967; 21 SCRA 1056 (1967)
FACTS:
1. This is an appeal taken by Pedro Reyes Garcia from the decision of the
Court of First Instance of Rizal in Special Proceedings
- denying the allowance of the will of the late Gregorio Gatchalian,
on the ground that the attesting witnesses did not acknowledge
it before a notary public, as required by law.

2. On March 15, 1967, Gregorio Gatchalian, a widower of 71 years of age, died in the
municipality of Pasig, Province of Rizal, leaving no forced heirs.

3. On April 2 of the same year, appellant filed a petition with the above named court for the
probate of said alleged will (Exhibit "C") wherein he was instituted as sole heir.

4. Felipe Gatchalian, Aurora G. Camins, Angeles G. Cosca, Federico G. Tubog, Virginia G.

Talanay and Angeles G. Talanay, appellees herein, opposed the petition on the ground,
among others:
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- that the will was procured by fraud; that the deceased did not intend the instrument
signed by him to be as his will;

- and that the deceased was physically and mentally incapable of making a will at the time
of the alleged execution of said will.

5. After due trial, the court rendered the appealed decision finding the document Exhibit
"C" to be the authentic last will of the deceased but disallowing it for failure to comply with
the mandatory requirement of Article 806 of the New Civil Code — that the will must be
acknowledged before a notary public by the testator and the witnesses.

ISSUE:
WON the will was executed in accordance of Art 806 of the New Civil Code?

HELD: 5
NO 8
1. Article 806 of the New Civil Code reads as follows:
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Every will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the testator and witnesses. The
notary public shall not be required to retain a copy of the will, or file another with the Office
of the Clerk of Court.
2. We have held heretofore that compliance with the requirement contained in the above
legal provision to the effect that a will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the
testator and also by the witnesses is indispensable for its validity
- As the document under consideration does not comply with this requirement, it is obvious
that the same may not be probated.

c. Azuela v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 122880, April

12, 2006; 487 SCRA 119 (2006)

FACTS:
1. Petitioner Felix Azuela sought to admit to probate the notarial will of Eugenia E.
Igsolo. However, this was opposed by Geralda Castillo, who was the attorney-in-fact of “the
12 legitimate heirs” of the decedent. According to her, the will was forged, and imbued with
several fatal defects. Particularly, the issue relevant in this subject is that the will was not
properly acknowledged. The notary public, Petronio Y. Bautista, only wrote “Nilagdaan ko at
ninotario ko ngayong 10 ng Hunyo 10 (sic), 1981 dito sa Lungsod ng Maynila.”

ISSUE: Whether or not the will is fatally defective as it was not properly acknowledged
before a notary public by the testator and the witnesses as required by Article 806 of the
Civil Code.

RULING: Yes, the will is fatally defective. By no manner of contemplation can those words
be construed as an acknowledgment.

An acknowledgement is the act of one who has executed a deed in going before some
competent officer or court and declaring it to be his act or deed. It involves an extra step
undertaken whereby the signore actually declares to the notary that the executor of a
document has attested to the notary that the same is his/her own free act and deed.

It might be possible to construe the averment as a jurat, even though it does not hew to the
usual language thereof. A jurat is that part of an affidavit where the notary certifies that
before him/her, the document was subscribed and sworn to by the executor.

Yet even if we consider what was affixed by the notary public as a jurat, the will would
nonetheless remain invalid, as the express requirement of Article 806 is that the will be
“acknowledged,” and not merely subscribed and sworn to. The will does not present any
textual proof, much less one under oath, that the decedent and the instrumental witnesses
executed or signed the will as their own free act or deed. The acknowledgment made in a
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will provides for another all-important legal safeguard against spurious wills or those made
beyond the free consent of the testator.

4. Registration of Document
a. Forms in conveyancing – Section 112 of Presidential
Decree No. 1528 or the Property Registration Decree

Section 112. Forms in conveyancing. The Commissioner of Land Registration shall prepare convenient
blank forms as may be necessary to help facilitate the proceedings in land registration and shall take
charge of the printing of land title forms.

Deeds, conveyances, encumbrances, discharges, powers of attorney and other voluntary instruments,
whether affecting registered or unregistered land, executed in accordance with law in the form of
5
public instruments shall be registerable: Provided, that, every such instrument shall be signed by the 9
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person or persons executing the same in the presence of at least two witnesses who shall likewise
sign thereon, and shall acknowledged to be the free act and deed of the person or persons executing
the same before a notary public or other public officer authorized by law to take acknowledgment.
Where the instrument so acknowledged consists of two or more pages including the page whereon
acknowledgment is written, each page of the copy which is to be registered in the office of the
Register of Deeds, or if registration is not contemplated, each page of the copy to be kept by the
notary public, except the page where the signatures already appear at the foot of the instrument, shall
be signed on the left margin thereof by the person or persons executing the instrument and their
witnesses, and all the ages sealed with the notarial seal, and this fact as well as the number of pages
shall be stated in the acknowledgment. Where the instrument acknowledged relates to a sale,
transfer, mortgage or encumbrance of two or more parcels of land, the number thereof shall likewise
be set forth in said acknowledgment.

5. Transfer of Ownership
a. Delivery of the thing sold – Articles 1498 and 1544
of the Civil Code

SECTION 2. – Delivery of the Thing Sold

Art. 1498. When the sale is made through a public instrument, the execution thereof
shall be equivalent to the delivery of the thing which is the object of the contract, if
from the deed the contrary does not appear or cannot clearly be inferred.
With regard to movable property, its delivery may also be made by the delivery of the
keys of the place or depository where it is stored or kept. (1463a)

xxx

Art. 1544. If the same thing should have been sold to different vendees, the
ownership shall be transferred to the person who may have first taken possession
thereof in good faith, if it should be movable property.
Should it be immovable property, the ownership shall belong to the person acquiring
it who in good faith first recorded it in the Registry of Property.

Should there be no inscription, the ownership shall pertain to the person who in good
faith was first in the possession; and, in the absence thereof, to the person who
presents the oldest title, provided there is good faith. (1473)
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b. Dy, Jr. v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 92989, July 8,

1991; 198 SCRA 826 (1991)

6. Effectivity as against Third Persons

a. Assignment of credits and Partnership having a
capital of P3,000.00 or more – Articles 1625 and 1772 of the
Civil Code

Art. 1625. An assignment of a credit, right or action shall produce no effect as

against third person, unless it appears in a public instrument, or the instrument is
recorded in the Registry of Property in case the assignment involves real property.
6
(1526) 0
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Art. 1772. Every contract of partnership having a capital of three thousand pesos or
more, in money or property, shall appear in a public instrument, which must be
recorded in the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Failure to comply with the requirements of the preceding paragraph shall not affect
the liability of the partnership and the members thereof to third persons. (n)

b. Marriage settlements – Article 77 of the Family

Code
Art. 77. The marriage settlements and any modification thereof shall be in writing,
signed by the parties and executed before the celebration of the marriage. They
shall not prejudice third persons unless they are registered in the local civil
registry where the marriage contract is recorded as well as in the proper registries
of properties. (122a)

d. Santiago v. Pioneer Savings and Loan Bank, G.R.

No. 77502, January 15, 1988; 157 SCRA 100 (1968)

FACTS:
1. Santiago, is the registered owner of a parcel of land situated at Polo, Valenzuela,
Metro Manila, with an area of approximately 39,007 square meters as the disputed
property.

2. She executed a Special Power of Attorney in favor of Construction Resources

Corporation of the Philippines (CRCP) to borrow money and make, execute, sign and deliver
mortgages of real estate now owned by me and standing in my name and to make, sign,
execute and deliver any and all promissory notes necessary in the premises.

3. CRCP executed a Real Estate Mortgage over the Disputed Property in favor of FINASIA
Investment and Finance Corporation to secure a loan of P1 million. The mortgage contract
specifically provided that in the event of default in payment, the mortgagee may
immediately foreclose the mortgage judicially or extrajudicially.

4. Real Estate Mortgage by CRCP in favor of FINASIA executed in favor of defendant-

appellee, Pioneer Savings & Loan Bank, Inc. (Defendant Bank, for brevity), an "Outright
Sale of Receivables without Recourse" including the receivable of P610,752.59 from CRCP.
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5. FINASIA executed a "Supplemental Deed of Assignment" in favor of Defendant Bank

confirming and ratifying the assignment in the latter's favor of the receivable of
P610,752.59 from CRCP and of the mortgage constituted by CRCP over the disputed
property.

6. CRCP failed to settle its obligation and Defendant Bank opted for extrajudicial
foreclosure of the mortgage.

7. On learning of the intended sale, plaintiff-appellant filed before the Regional Trial
Court of Valenzuela, Metro Manila, Branch CLXXII, an action for declaration of nullity of
the real estate mortgage with an application for a Writ of Preliminary Injunction

8. Defendant Bank opposed the application for Preliminary Injunction and asserted its
right to extrajudicially foreclose the mortgage on the Disputed Property based on recorded
public documents. 6
1
9. RTC granted the petition.
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ISSUE: WON the notice of the scheduled sale of the land sent to the agent (CRCP) is also
Notice to the principal (Plaintiff Appellant), the land owner.

RULING: YES, the notice is binding. The cases which plaintiff-appellant cites express the
general rule when there is no "documentary evidence admitted by stipulation disclosing
facts sufficient to defeat the claim." Where, however, such evidence is before the Court and
has been stipulated upon, a Court can go "beyond the disclosure in the complaint."

Moreover, the rule is explicit that "rules of procedure are not to be applied in a very rigid,
technical sense; rules of procedure are used only to help secure substantial justice."

The evidence on record sufficiently defeats plaintiff-appellant's claim for relief from
extrajudicial foreclosure. Her Special Power of Attorney in favor of CRCP specifically
included the authority to mortgage the Disputed Property. The Real Estate Mortgage in
favor of FINASIA explicitly authorized foreclosure in the event of default. Indeed, foreclosure
is but a necessary consequence of non-payment of a mortgage indebtedness. Plaintiff-
appellant, therefore, cannot rightfully claim that FINASIA, as the assignee of the mortgagee,
cannot extrajudicially foreclose the mortgaged property. A mortgage directly and
immediately subjects the property upon which it is imposed to the fulfillment of the
obligation for whose security it was constituted.

G. Basic Legal Forms

I. Forms for Contracts

a. Extra-Judicial Settlement – Secs. 1 and 2, Rule 74 of the
Rules of Court
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Section 1. Extrajudicial settlement by agreement between heirs. — If the

decedent left no will and no debts and the heirs are all of age, or the minors are represented
by their judicial or legal representatives duly authorized for the purpose, the parties may
without securing letters of administration, divide the estate among themselves as they see
fit by means of a public instrument filed in the office of the register of deeds, and should
they disagree, they may do so in an ordinary action of partition. If there is only one heir, he
may adjudicate to himself the entire estate by means of an affidavit filled in the office of the
register of deeds. The parties to an extrajudicial settlement, whether by public instrument
or by stipulation in a pending action for partition, or the sole heir who adjudicates the
entire estate to himself by means of an affidavit shall file, simultaneously with and as a
condition precedent to the filing of the public instrument, or stipulation in the action for
partition, or of the affidavit in the office of the register of deeds, a bond with the said
register of deeds, in an amount equivalent to the value of the personal property involved as
certified to under oath by the parties concerned and conditioned upon the payment of any
just claim that may be filed under section 4 of this rule. It shall be presumed that the 6
decedent left no debts if no creditor files a petition for letters of administration within two 2
(2) years after the death of the decedent.
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The fact of the extrajudicial settlement or administration shall be published in a

newspaper of general circulation in the manner provided in the nest succeeding section; but
no extrajudicial settlement shall be binding upon any person who has not participated
therein or had no notice thereof.

Section 2. Summary settlement of estate of small value. — Whenever the gross

value of the estate of a deceased person, whether he died testate or intestate, does not
exceed ten thousand pesos, and that fact is made to appear to the Court of First Instance
having jurisdiction of the estate by the petition of an interested person and upon hearing,
which shall be held not less than one (1) month nor more than three (3) months from the
date of the last publication of a notice which shall be published once a week for three (3)
consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the province, and after such
other notice to interest persons as the court may direct, the court may proceed summarily,
without the appointment of an executor or administrator, and without delay, to grant, if
proper, allowance of the will, if any there be, to determine who are the persons legally
entitled to participate in the estate, and to apportion and divide it among them after the
payment of such debts of the estate as the court shall then find to be due; and such
persons, in their own right, if they are of lawful age and legal capacity, or by their guardians
or trustees legally appointed and qualified, if otherwise, shall thereupon be entitled to
receive and enter into the possession of the portions of the estate so awarded to them
respectively. The court shall make such order as may be just respecting the costs of the
proceedings, and all orders and judgments made or rendered in the course thereof shall be
recorded in the office of the clerk, and the order of partition or award, if it involves real
estate, shall be recorded in the proper register's office.

b. Affidavit of Self-Adjudication

c. Deed of Sale of Registered Land

d. Contract of Lease with right of first refusal

e. Deed of Donation – Article 725 to 773 of the Civil Code

Art. 725. Donation is an act of liberality whereby a person disposes gratuitously of
a thing or right in favor of another, who accepts it. (618a)
Art. 726. When a person gives to another a thing or right on account of the latter's
merits or of the services rendered by him to the donor, provided they do not
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constitute a demandable debt, or when the gift imposes upon the donee a burden
which is less than the value of the thing given, there is also a donation. (619)

Art. 727. Illegal or impossible conditions in simple and remuneratory donations

shall be considered as not imposed. (n)

Art. 728. Donations which are to take effect upon the death of the donor partake of
the nature of testamentary provisions, and shall be governed by the rules
established in the Title on Succession. (620)

Art. 729. When the donor intends that the donation shall take effect during the
lifetime of the donor, though the property shall not be delivered till after the donor's
death, this shall be a donation inter vivos. The fruits of the property from the time
of the acceptance of the donation, shall pertain to the donee, unless the donor 6
provides otherwise. (n) 3
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Art. 730. The fixing of an event or the imposition of a suspensive condition, which
may take place beyond the natural expectation of life of the donor, does not destroy
the nature of the act as a donation inter vivos, unless a contrary intention appears.
(n)

Art. 731. When a person donates something, subject to the resolutory condition of
the donor's survival, there is a donation inter vivos. (n)

Art. 732. Donations which are to take effect inter vivos shall be governed by the
general provisions on contracts and obligations in all that is not determined in this
Title. (621)

Art. 733. Donations with an onerous cause shall be governed by the rules on
contracts and remuneratory donations by the provisions of the present Title as
regards that portion which exceeds the value of the burden imposed. (622)

Art. 734. The donation is perfected from the moment the donor knows of the
acceptance by the donee. (623)

CHAPTER 2
PERSONS WHO MAY GIVE OR RECEIVE A DONATION

Art. 735. All persons who may contract and dispose of their property may make a
donation. (624)
Art. 736. Guardians and trustees cannot donate the property entrusted to them. (n)

Art. 737. The donor's capacity shall be determined as of the time of the making of
the donation. (n)

Art. 738. Al those who are not specially disqualified by law therefor may accept
donations. (625)

Art. 739. The following donations shall be void:

(1) Those made between persons who were guilty of adultery or concubinage at the
time of the donation;
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(2) Those made between persons found guilty of the same criminal offense, in
consideration thereof;

(3) Those made to a public officer or his wife, descedants and ascendants, by
reason of his office.

In the case referred to in No. 1, the action for declaration of nullity may be brought
by the spouse of the donor or donee; and the guilt of the donor and donee may be
proved by preponderance of evidence in the same action. (n)
Art. 740. Incapacity to succeed by will shall be applicable to donations inter vivos.
(n)

Art. 741. Minors and others who cannot enter into a contract may become donees
but acceptance shall be done through their parents or legal representatives. (626a) 6
4
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Art. 742. Donations made to conceived and unborn children may be accepted by
those persons who would legally represent them if they were already born. (627)

Art. 743. Donations made to incapacitated persons shall be void, though simulated
under the guise of another contract or through a person who is interposed. (628)

Art. 744. Donations of the same thing to two or more different donees shall be
governed by the provisions concerning the sale of the same thing to two or more
different persons. (n)

Art. 745. The donee must accept the donation personally, or through an authorized
person with a special power for the purpose, or with a general and sufficient power;
otherwise, the donation shall be void. (630)

Art. 746. Acceptance must be made during the lifetime of the donor and of the
donee. (n)

Art. 747. Persons who accept donations in representation of others who may not do
so by themselves, shall be obliged to make the notification and notation of which
Article 749 speaks. (631)

Art. 748. The donation of a movable may be made orally or in writing.

An oral donation requires the simultaneous delivery of the thing or of the document
representing the right donated.

If the value of the personal property donated exceeds five thousand pesos, the
donation and the acceptance shall be made in writing, otherwise, the donation
shall be void. (632a)

Art. 749. In order that the donation of an immovable may be valid, it must be made
in a public document, specifying therein the property donated and the value of the
charges which the donee must satisfy.

The acceptance may be made in the same deed of donation or in a separate public
document, but it shall not take effect unless it is done during the lifetime of the
donor.
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If the acceptance is made in a separate instrument, the donor shall be notified

thereof in an authentic form, and this step shall be noted in both instruments.
(633)

CHAPTER 3
EFFECT OF DONATIONS AND LIMITATIONS THEREON

Art. 750. The donations may comprehend all the present property of the donor, or
part thereof, provided he reserves, in full ownership or in usufruct, sufficient
means for the support of himself, and of all relatives who, at the time of the
acceptance of the donation, are by law entitled to be supported by the donor.
Without such reservation, the donation shall be reduced in petition of any person
affected. (634a)
Art. 751. Donations cannot comprehend future property. 6
5
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By future property is understood anything which the donor cannot dispose of at the
time of the donation. (635)

Art. 752. The provisions of Article 750 notwithstanding, no person may give or
receive, by way of donation, more than he may give or receive by will.

The donation shall be inofficious in all that it may exceed this limitation. (636)

Art. 753. When a donation is made to several persons jointly, it is understood to be

in equal shares, and there shall be no right of accretion among them, unless the
donor has otherwise provided.

The preceding paragraph shall not be applicable to donations made to the husband
and wife jointly, between whom there shall be a right of accretion, if the contrary
has not been provided by the donor. (637)

Art. 754. The donee is subrogated to all the rights and actions which in case of
eviction would pertain to the donor. The latter, on the other hand, is not obliged to
warrant the things donated, save when the donation is onerous, in which case the
donor shall be liable for eviction to the concurrence of the burden.

The donor shall also be liable for eviction or hidden defects in case of bad faith on
his part. (638a)

Art. 755. The right to dispose of some of the things donated, or of some amount
which shall be a charge thereon, may be reserved by the donor; but if he should die
without having made use of this right, the property or amount reserved shall
belong to the donee. (639)

Art. 756. The ownership of property may also be donated to one person and the
usufruct to another or others, provided all the donees are living at the time of the
donation. (640a)

Art. 757. Reversion may be validly established in favor of only the donor for any
case and circumstances, but not in favor of other persons unless they are all living
at the time of the donation.

Any reversion stipulated by the donor in favor of a third person in violation of what
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is provided in the preceding paragraph shall be void, but shall not nullify the
donation. (614a)

Art. 758. When the donation imposes upon the donee the obligation to pay the
debts of the donor, if the clause does not contain any declaration to the contrary,
the former is understood to be liable to pay only the debts which appear to have
been previously contracted. In no case shall the donee be responsible for the debts
exceeding the value of the property donated, unless a contrary intention clearly
appears. (642a)

Art. 759. There being no stipulation regarding the payment of debts, the donee
shall be responsible therefor only when the donation has been made in fraud of
creditors.
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The donation is always presumed to be in fraud of creditors, when at the time

thereof the donor did not reserve sufficient property to pay his debts prior to the
donation. (643)

CHAPTER 4
REVOCATION AND REDUCTION OF DONATIONS

Art. 760. Every donation inter vivos, made by a person having no children or
descendants, legitimate or legitimated by subsequent marriage, or illegitimate, may
be revoked or reduced as provided in the next article, by the happening of any of
these events:
(1) If the donor, after the donation, should have legitimate or legitimated or
illegitimate children, even though they be posthumous;

(2) If the child of the donor, whom the latter believed to be dead when he made the
donation, should turn out to be living;

(3) If the donor subsequently adopt a minor child. (644a)

Art. 761. In the cases referred to in the preceding article, the donation shall be
revoked or reduced insofar as it exceeds the portion that may be freely disposed of
by will, taking into account the whole estate of the donor at the time of the birth,
appearance or adoption of a child. (n)
Art. 762. Upon the revocation or reduction of the donation by the birth, appearance
or adoption of a child, the property affected shall be returned or its value if the
donee has sold the same.

If the property is mortgaged, the donor may redeem the mortgage, by paying the
amount guaranteed, with a right to recover the same from the donee.

When the property cannot be returned, it shall be estimated at what it was worth at
the time of the donation. (645a)

Art. 763. The action for revocation or reduction on the grounds set forth in article
760 shall prescribe after four years from the birth of the first child, or from his
legitimation, recognition or adoption, or from the judicial declaration of filiation, or
from the time information was received regarding the existence of the child believed
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dead.

This action cannot be renounced, and is transmitted, upon the death of the donor,
to his legitimate and illegitimate children and descendants. (646a)

Art. 764. The donation shall be revoked at the instance of the donor, when the
donee fails to comply with any of the conditions which the former imposed upon
the latter.

In this case, the property donated shall be returned to the donor, the alienations
made by the donee and the mortgages imposed thereon by him being void, with the
limitations established, with regard to third persons, by the Mortgage Law and the
Land Registration Laws.
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This action shall prescribe after four years from the noncompliance with the
condition, may be transmitted to the heirs of the donor, and may be exercised
against the donee's heirs. (647a)

Art. 765. The donation may also be revoked at the instance of the donor, by reason
of ingratitude in the following cases:

(1) If the donee should commit some offense against the person, the honor or the
property of the donor, or of his wife or children under his parental authority;

(2) If the donee imputes to the donor any criminal offense, or any act involving
moral turpitude, even though he should prove it, unless the crime or the act has
been committed against the donee himself, his wife or children under his authority;

(3) If he unduly refuses him support when the donee is legally or morally bound to
give support to the donor. (648a)

Art. 766. Although the donation is revoked on account of ingratitude, nevertheless,

the alienations and mortgages effected before the notation of the complaint for
revocation in the Registry of Property shall subsist.
Later ones shall be void. (649)
Art. 767. In the case referred to in the first paragraph of the preceding article, the
donor shall have a right to demand from the donee the value of property alienated
which he cannot recover from third persons, or the sum for which the same has
been mortgaged.

The value of said property shall be fixed as of the time of the donation. (650)

Art. 768. When the donation is revoked for any of the causes stated in Article 760,
or by reason of ingratitude, or when it is reduced because it is inofficious, the
donee shall not return the fruits except from the filing of the complaint.

If the revocation is based upon noncompliance with any of the conditions imposed
in the donation, the donee shall return not only the property but also the fruits
thereof which he may have received after having failed to fulfill the condition. (651)

Art. 769. The action granted to the donor by reason of ingratitude cannot be
renounced in advance. This action prescribes within one year, to be counted from
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the time the donor had knowledge of the fact and it was possible for him to bring
the action. (652)

Art. 770. This action shall not be transmitted to the heirs of the donor, if the latter
did not institute the same, although he could have done so, and even if he should
die before the expiration of one year.

Neither can this action be brought against the heir of the donee, unless upon the
latter's death the complaint has been filed. (653)

Art. 771. Donations which in accordance with the provisions of Article 752, are
inofficious, bearing in mind the estimated net value of the donor's property at the
time of his death, shall be reduced with regard to the excess; but this reduction
shall not prevent the donations from taking effect during the life of the donor, nor 6
shall it bar the donee from appropriating the fruits. 8
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For the reduction of donations the provisions of this Chapter and of Articles 911
and 912 of this Code shall govern. (654)

Art. 772. Only those who at the time of the donor's death have a right to the
legitime and their heirs and successors in interest may ask for the reduction or
inofficious donations.

Those referred to in the preceding paragraph cannot renounce their right during
the lifetime of the donor, either by express declaration, or by consenting to the
donation.

The donees, devisees and legatees, who are not entitled to the legitime and the
creditors of the deceased can neither ask for the reduction nor avail themselves
thereof. (655a)

Art. 773. If, there being two or more donations, the disposable portion is not
sufficient to cover all of them, those of the more recent date shall be suppressed or
reduced with regard to the excess. (656)

f. Real Estate Mortgage – Article 2085 to 2092, 2124 to

2131 of the Civil Code

Art. 2085. The following requisites are essential to the contracts of pledge and
mortgage:
(1) That they be constituted to secure the fulfillment of a principal obligation;

(2) That the pledgor or mortgagor be the absolute owner of the thing pledged or
mortgaged;

(3) That the persons constituting the pledge or mortgage have the free disposal of
their property, and in the absence thereof, that they be legally authorized for the
purpose.

Third persons who are not parties to the principal obligation may secure the latter by
pledging or mortgaging their own property. (1857)
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Art. 2086. The provisions of Article 2052 are applicable to a pledge or mortgage. (n)
Art. 2087. It is also of the essence of these contracts that when the principal
obligation becomes due, the things in which the pledge or mortgage consists may be
alienated for the payment to the creditor. (1858)
Art. 2088. The creditor cannot appropriate the things given by way of pledge or
mortgage, or dispose of them. Any stipulation to the contrary is null and void.
(1859a)
Art. 2089. A pledge or mortgage is indivisible, even though the debt may be divided
among the successors in interest of the debtor or of the creditor.
Therefore, the debtor’s heir who has paid a part of the debt cannot ask for the
proportionate extinguishment of the pledge or mortgage as long as the debt is not 6
completely satisfied. 9
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Neither can the creditor’s heir who received his share of the debt return the pledge or
cancel the mortgage, to the prejudice of the other heirs who have not been paid.

From these provisions is expected the case in which, there being several things
given in mortgage or pledge, each one of them guarantees only a determinate
portion of the credit.

The debtor, in this case, shall have a right to the extinguishment of the pledge or
mortgage as the portion of the debt for which each thing is specially answerable is
satisfied. (1860)

Art. 2090. The indivisibility of a pledge or mortgage is not affected by the fact that the
debtors are not solidarily liable. (n)
Art. 2091. The contract of pledge or mortgage may secure all kinds of obligations, be
they pure or subject to a suspensive or resolutory condition. (1861)
Art. 2092. A promise to constitute a pledge or mortgage gives rise only to a personal
action between the contracting parties, without prejudice to the criminal responsibility
incurred by him who defrauds another, by offering in pledge or mortgage as
unencumbered, things which he knew were subject to some burden, or by
misrepresenting himself to be the owner of the same. (1862)

Art. 2124. Only the following property may be the object of a contract of mortgage:

(1) Immovables;

(2) Alienable real rights in accordance with the laws, imposed upon immovables.

Nevertheless, movables may be the object of a chattel mortgage. (1874a)

Art. 2125. In addition to the requisites stated in Article 2085, it is indispensable, in

order that a mortgage may be validly constituted, that the document in which it
appears be recorded in the Registry of Property. If the instrument is not recorded,
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the mortgage is nevertheless binding between the parties.

The persons in whose favor the law establishes a mortgage have no other right than
to demand the execution and the recording of the document in which the mortgage is
formalized. (1875a)

Art. 2126. The mortgage directly and immediately subjects the property upon which it
is imposed, whoever the possessor may be, to the fulfillment of the obligation for
whose security it was constituted. (1876)
Art. 2127. The mortgage extends to the natural accessions, to the improvements,
growing fruits, and the rents or income not yet received when the obligation becomes
due, and to the amount of the indemnity granted or owing to the proprietor from the
insurers of the property mortgaged, or in virtue of expropriation for public use, with 7
the declarations, amplifications and limitations established by law, whether the estate 0
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remains in the possession of the mortgagor, or it passes into the hands of a third
person. (1877)
Art. 2128. The mortgage credit may be alienated or assigned to a third person, in
whole or in part, with the formalities required by law. (1878)
Art. 2129. The creditor may claim from a third person in possession of the mortgaged
property, the payment of the part of the credit secured by the property which said
third person possesses, in the terms and with the formalities which the law
establishes. (1879)
Art. 2130. A stipulation forbidding the owner from alienating the immovable
mortgaged shall be void. (n)
Art. 2131. The form, extent and consequences of a mortgage, both as to its
constitution, modification and extinguishment, and as to other matters not included in
this Chapter, shall be governed by the provisions of the Mortgage Law and of the
Land Registration Law. (1880a)

g. Chattel Mortgage – Article 2085 to 2123, 2140 to 2141 of

the Civil Code; Act No. 1508, as amended, with Affidavit
of Good Faith

Art. 2085. The following requisites are essential to the contracts of pledge and
mortgage:
(1) That they be constituted to secure the fulfillment of a principal obligation;

(2) That the pledgor or mortgagor be the absolute owner of the thing pledged or
mortgaged;

(3) That the persons constituting the pledge or mortgage have the free disposal of
their property, and in the absence thereof, that they be legally authorized for the
purpose.

Third persons who are not parties to the principal obligation may secure the latter by
pledging or mortgaging their own property. (1857)
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Art. 2086. The provisions of Article 2052 are applicable to a pledge or mortgage. (n)
Art. 2087. It is also of the essence of these contracts that when the principal
obligation becomes due, the things in which the pledge or mortgage consists may be
alienated for the payment to the creditor. (1858)
Art. 2088. The creditor cannot appropriate the things given by way of pledge or
mortgage, or dispose of them. Any stipulation to the contrary is null and void.
(1859a)
Art. 2089. A pledge or mortgage is indivisible, even though the debt may be divided
among the successors in interest of the debtor or of the creditor.
Therefore, the debtor’s heir who has paid a part of the debt cannot ask for the
proportionate extinguishment of the pledge or mortgage as long as the debt is not
completely satisfied.
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Neither can the creditor’s heir who received his share of the debt return the pledge or
cancel the mortgage, to the prejudice of the other heirs who have not been paid.

From these provisions is expected the case in which, there being several things
given in mortgage or pledge, each one of them guarantees only a determinate
portion of the credit.

The debtor, in this case, shall have a right to the extinguishment of the pledge or
mortgage as the portion of the debt for which each thing is specially answerable is
satisfied. (1860)

Art. 2090. The indivisibility of a pledge or mortgage is not affected by the fact that the
debtors are not solidarily liable. (n)
Art. 2091. The contract of pledge or mortgage may secure all kinds of obligations, be
they pure or subject to a suspensive or resolutory condition. (1861)
Art. 2092. A promise to constitute a pledge or mortgage gives rise only to a personal
action between the contracting parties, without prejudice to the criminal responsibility
incurred by him who defrauds another, by offering in pledge or mortgage as
unencumbered, things which he knew were subject to some burden, or by
misrepresenting himself to be the owner of the same. (1862)
CHAPTER 2
PLEDGE
Art. 2093. In addition to the requisites prescribed in Article 2085, it is necessary, in
order to constitute the contract of pledge, that the thing pledged be placed in the
possession of the creditor, or of a third person by common agreement. (1863)
Art. 2094. All movables which are within commerce may be pledged, provided they
are susceptible of possession. (1864)
Art. 2095. Incorporeal rights, evidenced by negotiable instruments, bills of lading,
shares of stock, bonds, warehouse receipts and similar documents may also be
pledged. The instrument proving the right pledged shall be delivered to the creditor,
and if negotiable, must be indorsed. (n)
Art. 2096. A pledge shall not take effect against third persons if a description of the
thing pledged and the date of the pledge do not appear in a public instrument.
(1865a)
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Art. 2097. With the consent of the pledgee, the thing pledged may be alienated by
the pledgor or owner, subject to the pledge. The ownership of the thing pledged is
transmitted to the vendee or transferee as soon as the pledgee consents to the
alienation, but the latter shall continue in possession. (n)
Art. 2098. The contract of pledge gives a right to the creditor to retain the thing in his
possession or in that of a third person to whom it has been delivered, until the debt is
paid. (1866a)
Art. 2099. The creditor shall take care of the thing pledged with the diligence of a
good father of a family; he has a right to the reimbursement of the expenses made
for its preservation, and is liable for its loss or deterioration, in conformity with the
provisions of this Code. (1867)
Art. 2100. The pledgee cannot deposit the thing pledged with a third person, unless
there is a stipulation authorizing him to do so. 7
The pledgee is responsible for the acts of his agents or employees with respect to 2
the thing pledged. (n)
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Art. 2101. The pledgor has the same responsibility as a bailor in commodatum in the
case under Article 1951. (n)
Art. 2102. If the pledge earns or produces fruits, income, dividends, or interests, the
creditor shall compensate what he receives with those which are owing him; but if
none are owing him, or insofar as the amount may exceed that which is due, he shall
apply it to the principal. Unless there is a stipulation to the contrary, the pledge shall
extend to the interest and earnings of the right pledged.
In case of a pledge of animals, their offspring shall pertain to the pledgor or owner of
animals pledged, but shall be subject to the pledge, if there is no stipulation to the
contrary. (1868a)

Art. 2103. Unless the thing pledged is expropriated, the debtor continues to be the
owner thereof.
Nevertheless, the creditor may bring the actions which pertain to the owner of the
thing pledged in order to recover it from, or defend it against a third person. (1869)

Art. 2104. The creditor cannot use the thing pledged, without the authority of the
owner, and if he should do so, or should misuse the thing in any other way, the
owner may ask that it be judicially or extrajudicially deposited. When the preservation
of the thing pledged requires its use, it must be used by the creditor but only for that
purpose. (1870a)
Art. 2105. The debtor cannot ask for the return of the thing pledged against the will of
the creditor, unless and until he has paid the debt and its interest, with expenses in a
proper case. (1871)
Art. 2106. If through the negligence or wilful act of the pledgee, the thing pledged is
in danger of being lost or impaired, the pledgor may require that it be deposited with
a third person. (n)
Art. 2107. If there are reasonable grounds to fear the destruction or impairment of the
thing pledged, without the fault of the pledgee, the pledgor may demand the return of
the thing, upon offering another thing in pledge, provided the latter is of the same
kind as the former and not of inferior quality, and without prejudice to the right of the
pledgee under the provisions of the following article.
The pledgee is bound to advise the pledgor, without delay, of any danger to the thing
pledged. (n)
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Art. 2108. If, without the fault of the pledgee, there is danger of destruction,
impairment, or diminution in value of the thing pledged, he may cause the same to
be sold at a public sale. The proceeds of the auction shall be a security for the
principal obligation in the same manner as the thing originally pledged. (n)
Art. 2109. If the creditor is deceived on the substance or quality of the thing pledged,
he may either claim another thing in its stead, or demand immediate payment of the
principal obligation. (n)
Art. 2110. If the thing pledged is returned by the pledgee to the pledgor or owner, the
pledge is extinguished. Any stipulation to the contrary shall be void.
If subsequent to the perfection of the pledge, the thing is in the possession of the
pledgor or owner, there is a prima facie presumption that the same has been
returned by the pledgee. This same presumption exists if the thing pledged is in the 7
possession of a third person who has received it from the pledgor or owner after the 3
constitution of the pledge. (n)
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Art. 2111. A statement in writing by the pledgee that he renounces or abandons the
pledge is sufficient to extinguish the pledge. For this purpose, neither the acceptance
by the pledgor or owner, nor the return of the thing pledged is necessary, the
pledgee becoming a depositary. (n)
Art. 2112. The creditor to whom the credit has not been satisfied in due time, may
proceed before a Notary Public to the sale of the thing pledged. This sale shall be
made at a public auction, and with notification to the debtor and the owner of the
thing pledged in a proper case, stating the amount for which the public sale is to be
held. If at the first auction the thing is not sold, a second one with the same
formalities shall be held; and if at the second auction there is no sale either, the
creditor may appropriate the thing pledged. In this case he shall be obliged to give
an acquittance for his entire claim. (1872a)
Art. 2113. At the public auction, the pledgor or owner may bid. He shall, moreover,
have a better right if he should offer the same terms as the highest bidder.
The pledgee may also bid, but his offer shall not be valid if he is the only bidder. (n)

Art. 2114. All bids at the public auction shall offer to pay the purchase price at once.
If any other bid is accepted, the pledgee is deemed to have been received the
purchase price, as far as the pledgor or owner is concerned. (n)
Art. 2115. The sale of the thing pledged shall extinguish the principal obligation,
whether or not the proceeds of the sale are equal to the amount of the principal
obligation, interest and expenses in a proper case. If the price of the sale is more
than said amount, the debtor shall not be entitled to the excess, unless it is otherwise
agreed. If the price of the sale is less, neither shall the creditor be entitled to recover
the deficiency, notwithstanding any stipulation to the contrary. (n)
Art. 2116. After the public auction, the pledgee shall promptly advise the pledgor or
owner of the result thereof. (n)
Art. 2117. Any third person who has any right in or to the thing pledged may satisfy
the principal obligation as soon as the latter becomes due and demandable.(n)
Art. 2118. If a credit which has been pledged becomes due before it is redeemed, the
pledgee may collect and receive the amount due. He shall apply the same to the
payment of his claim, and deliver the surplus, should there be any, to the pledgor. (n)
Art. 2119. If two or more things are pledged, the pledgee may choose which he will
cause to be sold, unless there is a stipulation to the contrary. He may demand the
sale of only as many of the things as are necessary for the payment of the debt. (n)
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Art. 2120. If a third party secures an obligation by pledging his own movable property
under the provisions of Article 2085 he shall have the same rights as a guarantor
under Articles 2066 to 2070, and Articles 2077 to 2081. He is not prejudiced by any
waiver of defense by the principal obligor. (n)
Art. 2121. Pledges created by operation of law, such as those referred to in Articles
546, 1731, and 1994, are governed by the foregoing articles on the possession, care
and sale of the thing as well as on the termination of the pledge. However, after
payment of the debt and expenses, the remainder of the price of the sale shall be
delivered to the obligor. (n)
Art. 2122. A thing under a pledge by operation of law may be sold only after demand
of the amount for which the thing is retained. The public auction shall take place
within one month after such demand. If, without just grounds, the creditor does not
cause the public sale to be held within such period, the debtor may require the return 7
of the thing. (n) 4
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Art. 2123. With regard to pawnshops and other establishments, which are engaged
in making loans secured by pledges, the special laws and regulations concerning
them shall be observed, and subsidiarily, the provisions of this Title. (1873a)

h. Deed of Release of Real Estate or Chattel Mortgage

i. Pre-Nuptial Agreement – Articles 74 to 81 of the Family

Code

Art. 74. The property relationship between husband and wife shall be
governed in the following order:
(1) By marriage settlements executed before the marriage;
(2) By the provisions of this Code; and

(3) By the local custom. (118)

Art. 75. The future spouses may, in the marriage settlements, agree upon
the regime of absolute community, conjugal partnership of gains, complete
separation of property, or any other regime. In the absence of a marriage
settlement, or when the regime agreed upon is void, the system of absolute
community of property as established in this Code shall govern. (119a)

Art. 76. In order that any modification in the marriage settlements may be
valid, it must be made before the celebration of the marriage, subject to the
provisions of Articles 66, 67, 128, 135 and 136. (121)

Art. 77. The marriage settlements and any modification thereof shall be in
writing, signed by the parties and executed before the celebration of the
marriage. They shall not prejudice third persons unless they are registered
in the local civil registry where the marriage contract is recorded as well as
in the proper registries of properties. (122a)
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Art. 78. A minor who according to law may contract marriage may also
execute his or her marriage settlements, but they shall be valid only if the
persons designated in Article 14 to give consent to the marriage are made
parties to the agreement, subject to the provisions of Title IX of this Code.
(120a)

Art. 79. For the validity of any marriage settlement executed by a person
upon whom a sentence of civil interdiction has been pronounced or who is
subject to any other disability, it shall be indispensable for the guardian
appointed by a competent court to be made a party thereto. (123a)

Art. 80. In the absence of a contrary stipulation in a marriage settlement, 7

the property relations of the spouses shall be governed by Philippine laws, 5
regardless of the place of the celebration of the marriage and their residence.
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This rule shall not apply:

(1) Where both spouses are aliens;

(2) With respect to the extrinsic validity of contracts affecting property not
situated in the Philippines and executed in the country where the property
is located; and

(3) With respect to the extrinsic validity of contracts entered into in the
Philippines but affecting property situated in a foreign country whose laws
require different formalities for its extrinsic validity. (124a)

Art. 81. Everything stipulated in the settlements or contracts referred to in

the preceding articles in consideration of a future marriage, including
donations between the prospective spouses made therein, shall be rendered
void if the marriage does not take place. However, stipulations that do not
depend upon the celebration of the marriages shall be valid. (125a)

j. Deed of Assignment of Credits – Article 1624 to 1635 of

the Civil Code

Art. 1624. An assignment of creditors and other incorporeal rights shall be perfected
in accordance with the provisions of Article 1475. (n)
Art. 1625. An assignment of a credit, right or action shall produce no effect as against
third person, unless it appears in a public instrument, or the instrument is recorded in
the Registry of Property in case the assignment involves real property. (1526)
Art. 1626. The debtor who, before having knowledge of the assignment, pays his
creditor shall be released from the obligation. (1527)
Art. 1627. The assignment of a credit includes all the accessory rights, such as a
guaranty, mortgage, pledge or preference. (1528)
Art. 1628. The vendor in good faith shall be responsible for the existence and legality
of the credit at the time of the sale, unless it should have been sold as doubtful; but
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not for the solvency of the debtor, unless it has been so expressly stipulated or
unless the insolvency was prior to the sale and of common knowledge.
Even in these cases he shall only be liable for the price received and for the
expenses specified in No. 1 of Article 1616.

The vendor in bad faith shall always be answerable for the payment of all expenses,
and for damages. (1529)

Art. 1629. In case the assignor in good faith should have made himself responsible
for the solvency of the debtor, and the contracting parties should not have agreed
upon the duration of the liability, it shall last for one year only, from the time of the
assignment if the period had already expired. 7
If the credit should be payable within a term or period which has not yet expired, the 6
liability shall cease one year after the maturity. (1530a)
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Art. 1630. One who sells an inheritance without enumerating the things of which it is
composed, shall only be answerable for his character as an heir. (1531)
Art. 1631. One who sells for a lump sum the whole of certain rights, rents, or
products, shall comply by answering for the legitimacy of the whole in general; but he
shall not be obliged to warrant each of the various parts of which it may be
composed, except in the case of eviction from the whole or the part of greater value.
(1532a)
Art. 1632. Should the vendor have profited by some of the fruits or received anything
from the inheritance sold, he shall pay the vendee thereof, if the contrary has not
been stipulated. (1533)
Art. 1633. The vendee shall, on his part, reimburse the vendor for all that the latter
may have paid for the debts of and charges on the estate and satisfy the credits he
may have against the same, unless there is an agreement to the contrary. (1534)
Art. 1634. When a credit or other incorporeal right in litigation is sold, the debtor shall
have a right to extinguish it by reimbursing the assignee for the price the latter paid
therefor, the judicial costs incurred by him, and the interest on the price from the day
on which the same was paid.
A credit or other incorporeal right shall be considered in litigation from the time the
complaint concerning the same is answered.

The debtor may exercise his right within thirty days from the date the assignee
demands payment from him. (1535)

Art. 1635. From the provisions of the preceding article shall be excepted the
assignments or sales made:
(1) To a co-heir or co-owner of the right assigned;

(2) To a creditor in payment of his credit;

(3) To the possessor of a tenement or piece of land which is subject to the right in
litigation assigned. (1536)

II. Partnership and Corporate Forms

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

a. Articles of Partnership – Articles 1767, 1770 to 1774 of

the Civil Code

ARTICLE 1767. By the contract of partnership two or more persons bind themselves to
contribute money, property, or industry to a common fund, with the intention of dividing
the profits among themselves.

Two or more persons may also form a partnership for the exercise of a profession.
(1665a)
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Article 1770. A partnership must have a lawful object or purpose, and must be established for
the common benefit or interest of the partners.

When an unlawful partnership is dissolved by a judicial decree, the profits shall be

confiscated in favor of the State, without prejudice to the provisions of the Penal Code
governing the confiscation of the instruments and effects of a crime. (1666a)

Article 1771. A partnership may be constituted in any form, except where immovable
property or real rights are contributed thereto, in which case a public instrument shall be
necessary. (1667a)

Article 1772. Every contract of partnership having a capital of three thousand pesos or more,
in money or property, shall appear in a public instrument, which must be recorded in the
Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Failure to comply with the requirements of the preceding paragraph shall not affect the
liability of the partnership and the members thereof to third persons. (n)

Article 1773. A contract of partnership is void, whenever immovable property is contributed

thereto, if an inventory of said property is not made, signed by the parties, and attached to the
public instrument. (1668a)

Article 1774. Any immovable property or an interest therein may be acquired in the
partnership name. Title so acquired can be conveyed only in the partnership name. (n)

b. Articles of Incorporation – Sec. 10 to 15 of the

Corporation Code
Section 10. Number and qualifications of incorporators. – Any number of natural persons not less than five
(5) but not more than fifteen (15), all of legal age and a majority of whom are residents of the Philippines,
may form a private corporation for any lawful purpose or purposes. Each of the incorporators of s stock
corporation must own or be a subscriber to at least one (1) share of the capital stock of the corporation.
(6a)
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Section 11. Corporate term. – A corporation shall exist for a period not exceeding fifty (50) years from the
date of incorporation unless sooner dissolved or unless said period is extended. The corporate term as
originally stated in the articles of incorporation may be extended for periods not exceeding fifty (50) years in
any single instance by an amendment of the articles of incorporation, in accordance with this Code;
Provided, That no extension can be made earlier than five (5) years prior to the original or subsequent
expiry date(s) unless there are justifiable reasons for an earlier extension as may be determined by the
Securities and Exchange Commission. (6)

Section 12. Minimum capital stock required of stock corporations. – Stock corporations incorporated under
this Code shall not be required to have any minimum authorized capital stock except as otherwise
specifically provided for by special law, and subject to the provisions of the following section.

Section 13. Amount of capital stock to be subscribed and paid for the purposes of incorporation. – At least
twenty-five percent (25%) of the authorized capital stock as stated in the articles of incorporation must be
subscribed at the time of incorporation, and at least twenty-five (25%) per cent of the total subscription 7
must be paid upon subscription, the balance to be payable on a date or dates fixed in the contract of 8
subscription without need of call, or in the absence of a fixed date or dates, upon call for payment by the
 LEGAL ETHICS &
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board of directors: Provided, however, That in no case shall the paid-up capital be less than five Thousand
(P5,000.00) pesos. (n)

Section 14. Contents of the articles of incorporation. – All corporations organized under this code shall file
with the Securities and Exchange Commission articles of incorporation in any of the official languages duly
signed and acknowledged by all of the incorporators, containing substantially the following matters, except
as otherwise prescribed by this Code or by special law:

1. The name of the corporation;

2. The specific purpose or purposes for which the corporation is being incorporated. Where a
corporation has more than one stated purpose, the articles of incorporation shall state which is the
primary purpose and which is/are the secondary purpose or purposes: Provided, That a non-stock
corporation may not include a purpose which would change or contradict its nature as such;

3. The place where the principal office of the corporation is to be located, which must be within the
Philippines;

4. The term for which the corporation is to exist;

5. The names, nationalities and residences of the incorporators;

6. The number of directors or trustees, which shall not be less than five (5) nor more than fifteen
(15);

7. The names, nationalities and residences of persons who shall act as directors or trustees until
the first regular directors or trustees are duly elected and qualified in accordance with this Code;

8. If it be a stock corporation, the amount of its authorized capital stock in lawful money of the
Philippines, the number of shares into which it is divided, and in case the share are par value
shares, the par value of each, the names, nationalities and residences of the original subscribers,
and the amount subscribed and paid by each on his subscription, and if some or all of the shares
are without par value, such fact must be stated;

9. If it be a non-stock corporation, the amount of its capital, the names, nationalities and
residences of the contributors and the amount contributed by each; and

10. Such other matters as are not inconsistent with law and which the incorporators may deem
necessary and convenient.

The Securities and Exchange Commission shall not accept the articles of incorporation of any stock
corporation unless accompanied by a sworn statement of the Treasurer elected by the subscribers showing
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

that at least twenty-five (25%) percent of the authorized capital stock of the corporation has been
subscribed, and at least twenty-five (25%) of the total subscription has been fully paid to him in actual cash
and/or in property the fair valuation of which is equal to at least twenty-five (25%) percent of the said
subscription, such paid-up capital being not less than five thousand (P5,000.00) pesos.

Section 15. Forms of Articles of Incorporation. – Unless otherwise prescribed by special law, articles of
incorporation of all domestic corporations shall comply substantially with the following form:

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
OF

__________________________
(Name of Corporation)

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS: 7

9
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The undersigned incorporators, all of legal age and a majority of whom are residents of the Philippines,
have this day voluntarily agreed to form a (stock) (non-stock) corporation under the laws of the Republic of
the Philippines;

AND WE HEREBY CERTIFY:

FIRST: That the name of said corporation shall be "_____________________, INC. or CORPORATION";

SECOND: That the purpose or purposes for which such corporation is incorporated are: (If there is more
than one purpose, indicate primary and secondary purposes);

THIRD: That the principal office of the corporation is located in the City/Municipality of
________________________, Province of _______________________, Philippines;

FOURTH: That the term for which said corporation is to exist is _____________ years from and after the
date of issuance of the certificate of incorporation;

FIFTH: That the names, nationalities and residences of the incorporators of the corporation are as follows:

NAME NATIONALITY RESIDENCE

___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________

SIXTH: That the number of directors or trustees of the corporation shall be _______; and the names,
nationalities and residences of the first directors or trustees of the corporation are as follows:

NAME NATIONALITY RESIDENCE

___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

SEVENTH: That the authorized capital stock of the corporation is ______________________

(P___________) PESOS in lawful money of the Philippines, divided into __________ shares with the par
value of ____________________ (P_____________) Pesos per share.

(In case all the share are without par value):

That the capital stock of the corporation is ______________ shares without par value. (In case some
shares have par value and some are without par value): That the capital stock of said corporation consists
of _____________ shares of which ______________ shares are of the par value of _________________
(P____________) PESOS each, and of which _________________ shares are without par value.

EIGHTH: That at least twenty five (25%) per cent of the authorized capital stock above stated has been
subscribed as follows: 8
0
Name of Nationality No. of Shares Amount
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Subscriber Subscribed Subscribed

___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________

NINTH: That the above-named subscribers have paid at least twenty-five (25%) percent of the total
subscription as follows:

Name of Amount Subscribed Total

Subscriber
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
Paid-In
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________

(Modify Nos. 8 and 9 if shares are with no par value. In case the corporation is non-stock, Nos. 7, 8 and 9
of the above articles may be modified accordingly, and it is sufficient if the articles state the amount of
capital or money contributed or donated by specified persons, stating the names, nationalities and
residences of the contributors or donors and the respective amount given by each.)

TENTH: That _____________________ has been elected by the subscribers as Treasurer of the
Corporation to act as such until his successor is duly elected and qualified in accordance with the by-laws,
and that as such Treasurer, he has been authorized to receive for and in the name and for the benefit of
the corporation, all subscription (or fees) or contributions or donations paid or given by the subscribers or
members.

ELEVENTH: (Corporations which will engage in any business or activity reserved for Filipino citizens shall
provide the following):

"No transfer of stock or interest which shall reduce the ownership of Filipino citizens to less than the
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

required percentage of the capital stock as provided by existing laws shall be allowed or permitted to be
recorded in the proper books of the corporation and this restriction shall be indicated in all stock certificates
issued by the corporation."

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto signed these Articles of Incorporation, this __________ day of
________________, 19 ______ in the City/Municipality of ____________________, Province of
________________________, Republic of the Philippines.

___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________

________________________________

(Names and signatures of the incorporators) 8

1
SIGNED IN THE PRESENCE OF:
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___________________ ___________________

(Notarial Acknowledgment)

TREASURER’S AFFIDAVIT

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES)

CITY/MUNICIPALITY OF ) S.S.

PROVINCE OF )

I, ____________________, being duly sworn, depose and say:

That I have been elected by the subscribers of the corporation as Treasurer thereof, to act as such until my
successor has been duly elected and qualified in accordance with the by-laws of the corporation, and that
as such Treasurer, I hereby certify under oath that at least 25% of the authorized capital stock of the
corporation has been subscribed and at least 25% of the total subscription has been paid, and received by
me, in cash or property, in the amount of not less than P5,000.00, in accordance with the Corporation
Code.

____________________

(Signature of Treasurer)

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me, a Notary Public, for and in the City/Municipality
of___________________Province of _____________________, this _______ day of ___________, 19
_____; by __________________ with Res. Cert. No. ___________ issued at _______________________
on ____________, 19 ______

NOTARY PUBLIC

My commission expires on _________, 19 _____

Doc. No. _________;

Page No. _________;

Book No. ________;

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Series of 19____ (7a)

c. By-Laws – Sec. 46 to 47 of the Corporation Code

Section 46. Adoption of by-laws. – Every corporation formed under this Code must, within one (1) month
after receipt of official notice of the issuance of its certificate of incorporation by the Securities and
Exchange Commission, adopt a code of by-laws for its government not inconsistent with this Code. For the
adoption of by-laws by the corporation the affirmative vote of the stockholders representing at least a
majority of the outstanding capital stock, or of at least a majority of the members in case of non-stock
corporations, shall be necessary. The by-laws shall be signed by the stockholders or members voting for
them and shall be kept in the principal office of the corporation, subject to the inspection of the stockholders
or members during office hours. A copy thereof, duly certified to by a majority of the directors or trustees 8
countersigned by the secretary of the corporation, shall be filed with the Securities and Exchange 2
Commission which shall be attached to the original articles of incorporation.
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Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, by-laws may be adopted and filed prior to
incorporation; in such case, such by-laws shall be approved and signed by all the incorporators and
submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the articles of incorporation.

In all cases, by-laws shall be effective only upon the issuance by the Securities and Exchange Commission
of a certification that the by-laws are not inconsistent with this Code.

The Securities and Exchange Commission shall not accept for filing the by-laws or any amendment thereto
of any bank, banking institution, building and loan association, trust company, insurance company, public
utility, educational institution or other special corporations governed by special laws, unless accompanied
by a certificate of the appropriate government agency to the effect that such by-laws or amendments are in
accordance with law. (20a)

Section 47. Contents of by-laws. – Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, this Code, other special
laws, and the articles of incorporation, a private corporation may provide in its by-laws for:

1. The time, place and manner of calling and conducting regular or special meetings of the
directors or trustees;

2. The time and manner of calling and conducting regular or special meetings of the stockholders
or members;

3. The required quorum in meetings of stockholders or members and the manner of voting therein;

4. The form for proxies of stockholders and members and the manner of voting them;

5. The qualifications, duties and compensation of directors or trustees, officers and employees;

6. The time for holding the annual election of directors of trustees and the mode or manner of
giving notice thereof;

7. The manner of election or appointment and the term of office of all officers other than directors
or trustees;

8. The penalties for violation of the by-laws;

9. In the case of stock corporations, the manner of issuing stock certificates; and

10. Such other matters as may be necessary for the proper or convenient transaction of its
corporate business and affairs. (21a)
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

d. Board Resolution authorizing corporate officer to obtain a

bank loan
e. Secretary’s Certificate
f. Proxy to attend a stockholder’s meeting – Sec. 58 of the
Corporation Code
Section 58. Proxies. – Stockholders and members may vote in person or by proxy in all meetings
of stockholders or members. Proxies shall in writing, signed by the stockholder or member and filed before
the scheduled meeting with the corporate secretary. Unless otherwise provided in the proxy, it shall be
valid only for the meeting for which it is intended. No proxy shall be valid and effective for a period longer
than five (5) years at any one time. (n)

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g. Notice of Stockholder’s meeting – Sec. 50 to 51 of the

Corporation Code
Section 50. Regular and special meetings of stockholders or members. - Regular meetings of stockholders
or members shall be held annually on a date fixed in the by-laws, or if not so fixed, on any date in April of
every year as determined by the board of directors or trustees: Provided, That written notice of regular
meetings shall be sent to all stockholders or members of record at least two (2) weeks prior to the meeting,
unless a different period is required by the by-laws.

Special meetings of stockholders or members shall be held at any time deemed necessary or as provided
in the by-laws: Provided, however, That at least one (1) week written notice shall be sent to all stockholders
or members, unless otherwise provided in the by-laws.

Notice of any meeting may be waived, expressly or impliedly, by any stockholder or member.

Whenever, for any cause, there is no person authorized to call a meeting, the Securities and Exchange
Commission, upon petition of a stockholder or member on a showing of good cause therefor, may issue an
order to the petitioning stockholder or member directing him to call a meeting of the corporation by giving
proper notice required by this Code or by the by-laws. The petitioning stockholder or member shall preside
thereat until at least a majority of the stockholders or members present have chosen one of their number as
presiding officer. (24, 26)

Section 51. Place and time of meetings of stockholders of members. – Stockholder’s or member’s
meetings, whether regular or special, shall be held in the city or municipality where the principal office of
the corporation is located, and if practicable in the principal office of the corporation: Provided, That Metro
Manila shall, for purposes of this section, be considered a city or municipality.

h. Minutes of Meetings

i. Arbitration Clause – Republic Act. No. 9285 or

the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 2004

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

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MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED BAR QUESTIONS

CONTRACTS OR AGREEMENTS

CONTRACT OF LEASE (1976, 1987, 1988, 1996, 1998)

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Question No. 1:
Prepare a contract of lease of an apartment unit for P5,000.00 a month between Mr.
Jesus Santos as lessor and Mrs. Olivia Palpallatoc as lessee, for a period of twenty four (24)
months. Supply the other facts required in a contract of lease. Include an acknowledgment.

Answer:

CONTRACT OF LEASE

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:

For and in consideration of the prestations and agreements hereunder stated, JESUS
SANTOS, Filipino citizen, residing at No. 40 Limon Street, Quezon City, hereinafter referred to as
the LESSOR hereby LETS and LEASES unto Mrs. OLIVIA PALPALLATOC, Filipino citizen, married to
Juan Palpallatoc, resident of No. 40, Kitanlad, Quezon City, and hereinafter referred to as the
LESSEE, that apartment unit located at No. 20 Kitanlad, Quezon City, covered by TCT No. 14789 of
8
the Registry of Deeds, Quezon City, of which the LESSOR is the registered owner. 5
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1. The term of the lease shall be twenty-four (24) months starting from the date of
execution of this instrument, without any extension or renewal;
2. The rentals shall be P5,000.00 a month, payable within the first 10 days of each ensuing
month;
3. In addition, the LESSEE shall deposit the amount equivalent to two (2) months rent to
answer for whatever damages that may be caused to the leased premises, ordinary
wear and tear excepted;
4. That the LESSEE shall use the said apartment for residential purposes only.
5. The LESSEE shall not sublease the premises without the written consent of the LESSOR,
and neither shall she assign her leasehold rights without such consent of the LESSOR;
6. Expenses for water, electricity, gas and telephone charges shall be for the account of
the LESSEE;
7. Any improvements introduced by the LESSEE on the leased premises shall become
property of the LESSOR upon the termination the lease, without right of reimbursement
from the latter;
8. At the termination of the lease, the LESSEE shall peaceably surrender the leased
premises to the LESSOR without any demand, oral or written.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have signed this instrument at Quezon City, Philippines,
on this 30th day of September, 2004.

JESUS SANTOS OLIVIA PALPALLATOC

Lessor Lessee

With my marital consent:

Husband

Signed in the presence of:

ROBERT CHAVEZ CHRISTIAN ONG

Witness Witness
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES)
QUEZON CITY ) S.S.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

CHATTEL MORTGAGE (1999, 1997)

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Question No. 2:
Document a chattel mortgage covering a motor vehicle.

Answer:

CHATTEL MORTGAGE
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:

That I, Wendy Dayandayan, of legal age, married and resident of the City of Manila for and
in consideration of the loan of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00), Philippine Currency, granted
to me by Rem Tugadi, likewise of legal age, married and resident of the City of Manila, to be paid
one year after date with 6% interest per annum from date hereof, have transferred and conveyed 8
by way of chattel mortgage unto said Rem Tugadi, his heirs, successors and assigns, free from all 6
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liens and encumbrances, that certain motor vehicle at present in my possession in my

aforementioned address, more particularly described as follows:

(Description of motor vehichle)

of which I am the true and absolute owner, my title thereto being evidenced by Registration
Certificate of Motor Vehicle issued in my name by the Land Transportation Office, Quezon City on
January 10, 2002.

This chattel mortgage is being executed in order to secure the full and faithful payment of
the aforementioned obligation in accordance with the terms and conditions of this instrument. The
condition of this mortgage is such that if the said MORTGAGOR, his heirs, executors, or
administrators shall well and truly perform the full obligation above stated, then this contract shall
become null and void; otherwise, it shall continue to be in full force and effect and may be
foreclosed in accordance with law.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand on this instrument, in the City of
Manila, this 28th day of September 2003.

WENDY DAYANDAYAN
(Mortgagor)

Signed in the presence of:

CATHERINE BULSECO RICA DURAN

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
AFFIDAVIT OF GOOD FAITH
We, the undersigned MORTGAGOR and MORTGAGEE, severally swear that the foregoing
chattel mortgage is made and executed for the purpose of securing the obligation specified therein,
and for no other purpose, and that the same is a just and valid obligation, and one not entered into
for the purposes of fraud.

WENDY DAYANDAYAN REM TUGADI

(Mortgagor) (Mortgagee)
JURAT
DEED OF SALE OF REAL PROPERTY (1979, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1991)
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Question No. 3:
Harry Dy, married to Margaret Dy, sold their parcel of land located in Ayala Heights,
Quezon City to Stephanie Uy for the amount of P5,000,000.00. The land is more particularly
described in Transfer Certificate of Title No. 45678 in the Registry of Deeds of Quezon City.
The parties agreed that all expenses for taxes, registration, transfer and association dues are
for the account of Stephanie Uy. Prepare the contract of sale. Use a fictitious name for the
notary public.

Answer:
DEED OF ABSOLUTE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:
8
For and in consideration of the sum of FIVE MILLION PESOS (P5,000,000.00), Philippine
currency, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, I, HARRY DY, married to MARGARET DY, Fiipino
7
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citizen, of legal age, and resident of No. 12 San Andres, Manila, hereinafter known as VENDOR,
hereby SELL, TRANSFER AND CONVEY unto STEPHANIE UY, widow, Filipino citizen, of legal age and
resident of 15 CM Recto Street, Quezon City, hereinafter known as VENDEE, that certain parcel of
land located at Ayala Heights, Quezon City, with an area of 500 square meters, more or less,
covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 341342 of the Registry of Deeds of Quezon City, free
from all liens and encumbrances. The VENDEE undertakes to pay all taxes, registration, transfer
fees, village association dues, and all other expenses attendant to the registration of this deed and
transfer of the property in her name.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto signed this deed of absolute sale in Quezon City
on this 29th day of September 2002.

HARRY DY STEPHANIE UY
Vendor Vendee

With my Marital Consent:

(Sgd) MARGARET DY
Signed in the presence of:

HEART EVANGELISTA ANNE CURTIS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

RELEASE AND WAIVER (1987)

Question No. 4:
Your client Brandy Pitt was the victim of a hit and run car owned by Sharon Olba and
driven by Jenny Aniston. After you had taken the steps to file the required court actions
against Sharon Olba and the driver, your client was convinced by the car owner to accept a sum
of money by way of settlement. Since the amount offered was fair and reasonably covered all
the expenses incurred, your client accepted the offer. Prepare the document of Release and
Waiver that in your opinion will best protect the interest of your client, the victim, and will
likewise be legally sufficient and acceptable to the car owner and his driver.
Answer:

RELEASE AND WAIVER

I, Brandy Pitt, Filipino citizen, of legal age and resident of 7 Kitanlad, Quezon city, after
having been duly sworn in accordance with law hereby state:
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

1. That as a result of a motor vehicle accident which occurred on November 1, 1987 in Quezon
City, when I was hit by a car driven by Jenny Aniston and owned by Sharon Olba, I filed a
criminal and civil complaint against both Jenny Aniston and Sharon Olba in the Regional
Trial Court of Quezon City;

2. That after verifying the facts, I realized that said Jenny Aniston was not altogether reckless
in driving said vehicle;

3. That in order to settle the case amicably and since the owner of the car Sharon Olba had
offered to pay the sum of P10,000 for all the medical expenses and the losses that I
sustained, which I hereby acknowledge, I am withdrawing my complaint in both civil and
criminal cases filed in the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City (Civil Case No. 497 and
Criminal Case no. 5179);
8
4. That by virtue thereof, I hereby waive any and all claims, criminal or civil, against said 8
person, and further release and discharge them from any and all liability.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my signature this 27 th day of November, 1987.
Quezon City, November 29, 1987.

BRANDY PITT

JURAT

SPECIAL POWER OF ATTORNEY (1986, 1992)

Question No. 5:
Prepare a special power of attorney for Mr. John Cruz, Filipino, married and a resident
of Jolo, Sulu, empowering Bea Lucero, Filipino, married and a resident of No. 5 Santolan
Street, Quezon City, to collect for one year starting March 1, 1987 Mr. Cruz’s pension checks
from the Social Security System, SSS Building, Quezon City, and to encash and pay the proceeds
of the pension checks to Blue Chips Corporation, with offices at Quezon Circle, Diliman,
Quezon City, until the full amount of P12,000.00 has been paid.

Answer:

SPECIAL POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:

That I, JOHN CRUZ, of legal age, Filipino, married and a resident of Jolo, Sulu have named,
constituted and appointed and by these presents, do hereby name, constitute and appoint BEA
LUCERO, of legal age, Filipino, married and a resident of No. 5, Santolan Street, Quezon City , to
be my true and lawful attorney-in-fact, for me and in my name, place and stead, do and perform
the following:

1. To collect for the next 12 months, starting March 1, 1987, my pension checks from the
Social Security System, SSS Building, Quezon City;

2. To encash the said checks and pay the proceeds thereof to Blue Chips Corporation,
located at Quezon Circle, Diliman, Quezon City, until the full amount of P12,000 is fully paid to the
latter.

Hereby giving and granting unto my said attorney-in-fact power and authority to do every
act necessary and requisite in connection with the foregoing premises, hereby ratifying and
confirming all that he may do by virtue of these presents.
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my signature this 1 st day of March, 1987.

JOHN CRUZ

Signed in the presence of:

MIKE ARROYO GLORIA RAMOS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

WILLS AND TESTAMENT 8

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HOLOGRAPHIC WILL (1986, 1988)

Question No. 6:
You are Paolo Bondoc, a resident of Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Prepare a simple Holographic Will
disposing of all your properties, whether real, or personal, or mixed, in favor of your wife Nina
Bondoc and your two children, Jimmy Bondoc and Kyla Bondoc.

Answer:

 NOTE: The following sample of holographic will should be understood as entirely handwritten,
dated and signed.

In the name of God, Amen.

I, Paolo Bondoc, resident of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, sixty years of age, and of a sound and
disposing mind, hereby declared this to be my last will and testament;

1. I give and devise to my children, Jimmy Bondoc and Kyla Bondoc, pro indiviso, my
fishpond in Malabon City and covered by Certificate of Title No. 4572842, of the
Register of Deeds of the City of Malabon;

2. The net residue of my estate, real and personal, after payment of just debts, I give,
bequest and devise to my wife, Nina Bondoc.

Vigan, Ilocos Sur, December 3, 1986.

Paolo Bondoc

PETITION FOR PROBATE OF THE HOLOGRAPHIC WILL (1988)

Question No. 7:
Draft a petition for the probate of Don Mando Paquiao’s will.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch I, Manila

SP. Proceedings No. 1

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

IN RE: PETITION FOR THE PROBATE OF THE HOLOGRAPHIC WILL OF MANDO PAQUIAO,
MELDA PAQUIAO, PETITIONER

COMES NOW, the petitioner through undersigned counsel, and to this Honorable Court
respectfully alleges:

1. That petitioner is a Filipino citizen, residing at No. 4 Taft Avenue, Manila and the widow of the
deceased MANDO PAQUIAO;

2. That on December 1, 1987, MANDO PAQUIAO died in Manila, where he last resided;

3. That on September 30, 1987 he executed a holographic will in his own handwriting in English, a 9
language known to him. A copy of said holographic will is hereto attached as Annex “A”, as his last
will and testament;
0
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4. That said will can be attested to as the handwriting of the testator by Crisha Pagat, who was her
private secretary for a period of 17 years;

5. That the deceased left only two properties namely a lot and house located at Taft Avenue and an
apartment located at Remedios Street, Manila;

6. That he left as his only heirs the herein petitioner as his widow and his son Casimiro both of
whom are residing at No. 4 Taft Avenue, Manila;

7. That the deceased left no debts.

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that after due notice and publication this Honorable
Court fix the date for the probate of said holographic will and that letters of administration be
issued in favor of the herein petitioner and thereafter the properties of the deceased be
adjudicated in accordance with the said holographic will.

Manila, January 7, 1988.

RAPHAEL VILLEGAS
Counsel for the Petitioner
123 Corazon Bldg., Manila
IBP No. 112098; 1/2/1988; Manila
PTR No. 042979; 1/5/1988; Manila
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344

VERIFICATION
CERTIFICATION OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING

NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS

PROMISSORY NOTE (1991, 1994)

Question No. 8:
Carlo Rosales asks you to prepare a negotiable promissory note wherein the promissor,
Vivian Castro, binds herself to pay a loan of P50,000.00 in five (5) equal monthly installments
commencing on October 1994, payable not later than the 20 th day of each month, with interest
at ten percent (10%) per annum. He wants you to include an acceleration clause, and
stipulations regarding attorney’s fees of P5,000.00 in the event of suit to enforce the note and
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

on venue of action which shall only be in the appropriate court in Cebu City. Prepare the
requested promissory note.

Answer:

October 1, 1994
P50,000.00 Cebu City, Philippines

I, Vivian Castro, Filipino citizen, of legal age and resident of Manila promise to pay Carlo
Rosales or order the sum of P50,000.00 in five equal monthly installments commencing on October
1, 1994, payable not later than the 20 th day of each month, with compounded interest at ten
percent (10%) per annum; that in the event that I fail to pay any of the monthly payments, the
entire balance shall immediately become due and payable; and that in the event of a suit to
enforce the promissory note, I promise to pay P5,000.00 as attorney’s fees; and that said action 9
shall be filed in an appropriate court in Cebu City. 1
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VIVIAN CASTRO
(Maker)

PLEADINGS AND MOTIONS

ANSWER (1976, 1984)

Question No. 9:
Prepare an answer to a complaint denying the genuineness and due execution of the
document upon which the cause of action in the complaint was based.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 1, Manila

RICKY MARTIN,
Plaintiff,

- versus -

BRITNEY AGUILLERA,
Defendant.
x ---------------------------------------------- x

ANSWER
COMES NOW defendant, by the undersigned Counsel, and answering the plaintiff’s
complaint, respectfully alleges:

That defendant, BRITNEY AGUILLERA, specifically denies under oath the genuineness and
due execution of the document, marked as Annex “A” in the complaint, the truth being that the
signature therein is not hers.

Manila, April 20, 1984.

LAWRENCE VILLEGAS
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Attorney for the Defendant

XYZ Building, Manila
IBP No. 12345; 1/3/1984; Manila
PTR No.61879; 2/2/1984, Manila
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344
VERIFICATION

I, Britney Aguillera, subscribing under oath, hereby depose and state that:

I am the defendant in the instant case.

I have read the foregoing Answer and the allegations therein are true and correct of my
own knowledge and based on authentic records on hand.

BRITNEY AGUILLERA 9
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JURAT
Note: Copy furnished.

MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE AN ANSWER (2002)

Question No. 10:
Prepare a motion for extension of time to file an answer to a complaint in the Regional
Trial Court, Branch 3, Manila. For purposes of this pleading, your name is Pedro Cruz. Supply
the other hypothetical data. Omit proof of service and notice of hearing.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 3, Manila

JUAN DE LA CRUZ,
Plaintiff,

- versus - CIVIL CASE NO. 12345

PEDRO DE GUZMAN,
Defendant.
x ---------------------------------------------- x

MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE AN ANSWER

PLAINTIFF, through undersigned counsel, to this Honorable Court respectfully alleges:

1. That defendant was served with summons and a copy of the complaint on September 19,
2002 and consequently, has only up to October 4, 2002 within which to file an Answer;

2. That the undersigned counsel has started to prepare the Answer but, unfortunately, due to
pressure of work n attending to other equally important cases; he will need additional
period of 15 days from October 4, 2002, to complete and file the same;

3. That, this motion is being filed solely for the foregoing reason and not for purposes of
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

delay.

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that defendant be given an extension of 15 days from

October 4, 2002 within which to file an Answer to the Complaint.

Manila, September 21, 2002.

PEDRO CRUZ
Counsel for the Defendant
XYZ Building, Manila
IBP No. 12345; 1/3/1984; Manila
PTR No.61879; 2/2/1984, Manila
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344

9
NOTICE OF PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE (1995)
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Question No. 11:

Draft a notice of pre-trial conference.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch VII, Manila

JASMINE VISTAN,
Plaintiff,

- versus - Civil Case No. C-1774

CATS MONTREAL,
Defendant.
x ---------------------------------------- x

ORDER
Issues being joined in this case, the Pre-Trial Conference under Section 1, Rule 20 of the
Rules of Court, in relation to Circular No. 1-89 of the Supreme Court, is set for October 30, 1995, at
8:30 a.m.

Counsels are instructed to notify their respective clients.

Counsels are also reminded of the mandatory filing of Pre-Trial Briefs at least 3 days before
the Pre-Trial date.

SO ORDERED.

Given this 24th day of September, 1995 at the City of Manila, Metro Manila.

MALOU SAPALO
Judge

Copy furnished:

1. Villanueva, Pineda and Marasigan Law Offices

Suite 303, Pacia Complex
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Binondo, Manila

2. Bulseco, Duran and Tugadi Law Offices

Rm. 777, Marilag Condominium
Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila

ENTRY OF APPEARANCE (2002)

Question No. 12:
Jose Malinlang is accused of estafa upon complaint of Joyce Mapagbigay. The case is
pending before the Regional Trial Court, Branch 1, Manila, where it is docketed as Criminal
Case No. 5430. Joyce engages your services as a private prosecutor. File your formal entry of
appearance. For purposes of this pleading, your name is Pedro Cruz.
9
Answer: 4
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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 7, Manila

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES,

Plaintiff,

- versus - Criminal Case No. 102078

JOSE MALINLANG, For: ESTAFA

Accused.
x ----------------------------------------------- x

The Clerk of Court

Regional Trial Court
Branch 7, Manila

Kindly enter the appearance of the undersigned as Private Prosecutor in the above-entitled
case, under the supervision and control of the Public Prosecutor, with the conformity of the
complainant Joyce Mapagbigay, as shown below.

Accordingly, it is respectfully prayed that the undersigned be furnished copies of all

pleadings, orders, and notices relative to the instant case at its address indicated below.

Manila, Philippines, September 22, 2005.

PEDRO CRUZ
Counsel for the Complainant
Address: _________________

CONFORME:

JOYCE MAPAGBIGAY
Complainant

Copies Furnished by personal delivery:

The City Prosecutor

Manila
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Atty.____________________
Counsel of the Accused
(address)

MOTION TO QUASH (1976, 1986, 1988, 1990)

Question No. 13:
The prosecutor charged Anthony Tabbios with violating a city ordinance before the
Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila, Branch 47. Anthony Tabbios’s lawyer, Atty. Lawrence
Quicho, seeks to quash the information on the ground that the RTC has no jurisdiction over the
offense charged. 9
Prepare a motion to quash.
5
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Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 47, Manila

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES,

Plaintiff,

- versus - Criminal Case No. 102078

Anthony Tabbios, Violation of City Ordinance

Defendant. No. 5
x ----------------------------------------------- x

MOTION TO QUASH
COMES NOW the Accused, through undersigned counsel, and to this Honorable Court,
respectfully moves to quash the information filed by the Fiscal of Manila on the ground that:

THIS HONORABLE COURT HAS NO JURISDICTION OF THE CASE.

ARGUMENT
City Ordinance No. 5 imposes a maximum penalty of six (6) months imprisonment and
P1,000.00 fine which is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the City Court of Manila. Hence, this
Court has no jurisdiction over the instant case.

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that the information be quashed and the Accused be
released immediately from detention.

Manila, Philippines, October 1, 1990.

LAWRENCE QUICHO
Counsel for the Accused
IBP No. 61879; 1/2/1990; Manila
PTR No. 112098; 2/2/1990; Manila
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

NOTICE OF HEARING
The Clerk of Court
Regional Trial Court of Manila
Branch 47

Please set the foregoing Motion to Quash for hearing on Friday, October 5, 1990 at 9:00
a.m. or as soon as counsel may be heard.
RICHARD REYES
Counsel for the Accused
BP No. 61879; 1/2/1990; Manila
PTR No. 112098; 2/2/1990; Manila
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344 9
Copy Furnished: (3 days before hearing)
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City Prosecutor
City Hall, Manila

MOTION TO DISMISS (1988, 2002)

Question No. 14:
Prepare a motion to dismiss an action for a sum of money in the RTC Branch 1, Quezon
City on the ground of improper venue. Supply the other hypothetical facts and use Pedro Cruz
as your name.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 1, Quezon City

JUAN DE LA CRUZ,
Plaintiff,

- versus - Civil Case No. 102078

PEDRO PATERNO, For: Sum of Money

Defendant.
x ----------------------------------------------- x

MOTION TO DISMISS

NOW COMES Defendant, by his undersigned attorney, and to this Honorable Court
respectfully moves that the complaint be dismissed on the ground that VENUE HAS BEEN
IMPROPERLY LAID.

ARGUMENT

The Rules of Court provides that a complaint in a civil case cognizable by the Regional Trial
Court should be filed in the RTC of the place where the plaintiff or the defendant resides, at the
option of the plaintiff. The complaint in the above-entitled case expressly alleges that the plaintiff
is a resident of Makati City while the defendant is a resident of Caloocan City. Hence, venue has
been improperly laid.
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that the complaint be dismissed.

Quezon City, Philippines, September 16, 2002.

PEDRO CRUZ
(Attorney for Defendant)
__________________________
(Address)

Roll of Attorneys No. _____

PTR No. ______; [date issued][place issued]
IBP No. ______; [date 9
issued][Chapter] 7
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Atty. Purisima (By personal service)

Counsel for the Plaintiff
(address)

Madame:
Please be notified that on October 11, 2002 at 8:30 a.m. or as soon thereafter as the
matter may be heard, the undersigned counsel will submit the foregoing motion to the Honorable
Court for its consideration and resolution.

PEDRO CRUZ

ADMISSION OF SATISFACTION OF JUDGMENT (1986)

Question No. 15:
You won a damage claim for your plaintiff client, Beth Pagaling, before the Regional
Trial Court of Makati which awarded her a total of P300,000.00 in damages in a decision dated
November 21, 1986. Today, defendant Jen Lim delivers a manager’s check payable to the
order of your client in the amount of P300,000.00 and insists that the court be advised
immediately. Beth Pagaling and Jen Lim show up at your house and you are requested to
prepare the proper pleading so that Jen Lim can get a signed copy right away. Prepare the
appropriate pleading.

Answer:
(Caption and title)

ADMISSION OF SATISFACTION OF JUDGMENT

Plaintiff, by counsel, respectfully alleges that:

1. On November 21, 1986 judgment was rendered ordering defendant to pay plaintiff P300,000.00
in damages;

2. On November 30, 1986, defendant fully satisfied the aforementioned judgment by tendering, and
the plaintiff accepting, the sum adjudged against him;

WHEREFORE, in view of the payment and acceptance, plaintiff executes this Admission and
prays that satisfaction of judgment in the instant case be noted and entered by the clerk in his
docket.

Quezon City, November 30, 1986

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

SHARON OLBA
Counsel for Plaintiff
Rockwell, Makati City
PTR No. 11111; 1/2/1986; Makati City
IBP NO. 22222; 2/2;1986; Makati City
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344

Copy furnished:

RICA DURAN
Ayala Ave., Makati City
MOTION FOR SUPPORT PENDENTE LITE (2001)
Question No. 16:
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Draft a motion for support pendente lite to be filed in your client’s pending case in the
Regional Trial Court of Pasay City.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 1, Pasay City

WIFE,
Plaintiff,

- versus - Civil Case No. 0001011

HUSBAND,
Defendant.
x ----------------------------------------------- x

MOTION TO FOR SUPPORT PENDENTE LITE

Plaintiff through counsel, respectfully states that:

1. On 01 June 2001, plaintiff filed the complaint in the above case praying, among others,
that defendant be ordered to give plaintiff a monthly support.
2. As alleged in the complaint, defendant and plaintiff are husband and wife, having been
legally married on 08 December 1996 at the Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Pasay City. A
certified true copy of their marriage contract is hereto attached a Annex “A”, hereof.
3. As also alleged in the complaint, defendant has abandoned the conjugal home on 24
January 1998 without justifiable cause or reason, and since then defendant has failed to
give any support to the plaintiff.
4. The plaintiff is without any source of income as shown by her affidavit attached hereto as
Annex “B” hereof, whereas the defendant is a medical doctor actively engaged in the
practice of his profession with an average monthly income of P80,000.00 more or less.
5. Considering the present prices of essential commodities, plaintiff needs a monthly
allowance and support of P15,000.00 for her sustenance during the pendency of the instant
case.

WHEREFORE, it is most respectfully prayed of this Honorable Court that the defendant be
ordered to give the plaintiff a monthly support pendente lite of P15,000.00 to be paid at plaintiffs
residence on or before the 10th day of each month.
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Place, Date.

Atty. D
Counsel for Plaintiff
Roll of Attorneys No. _____
PTR No. ______; [date issued][place issued]
IBP No. ______; [date
issued][Chapter]

(Notice of Hearing)
Atty. A
Counsel for Plaintiff
(Address)
Sir: 9
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Please take note that on ______________, 2001 at ____ a.m., the undersigned counsel will
submit the foregoing motion to the Honorable Court for its consideration and resolution.

Atty. D

PROVISIONAL REMEDIES

COMPLAINT FOR REPLEVIN (1979, 1986)

Question No. 17:
Mr. Gene Alfajaro, General Manager of Avis Rent-A-Car (Philippines), Inc., with offices
at 311 P. Casal Street, Quiapo, Manila, entered into a contract for the company whereby a car,
Lancer Model 1984 valued at P290,000.00 with Plate No. DAY-203, was rented out for the week
of October 11 to 18, 1986 to Mr. John Doe, an American who had indicated that he resides at
Room 1024 of the Manila Hotel. The car was not returned by the latter on the date agreed
upon. Prepare the verified complaint for replevin. Sign as Atty. Asunto.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch I, Manila

Avis Rent-A-Car (Philippines), Inc.,

Plaintiff,

- versus - Civil Case No. 112098

JOHN DOE, For: Replevin

Defendant.
x--------------------------------x

COMPLAINT
COMES NOW, the Plaintiff, through the undersigned counsel, and to this Honorable Court
alleges:

1. That Plaintiff is a domestic corporation existing under the laws of the Philippines, with
offices at 311 P. Casal St., Quiapo, Manila, while defendant is an American citizen, residing at
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Room 1024, Manila Hotel, where he may be served with Summons;

2. That plaintiff is the registered owner of a motor vehicle described as a Mitsubishi Lancer,
model 1984, with Plate No. DAY-203;

3. That on October 11, 1986, defendant rented from plaintiff said Lancer car for a week
from October 11 to 18, 1986;

4. That on October 20, 1986, and for the next three (3) days thereafter, plaintiff demanded
from defendant the return of the said car; but defendant avoided returning the car by giving one
reason or another;

5. That said car has not been taken for a tax assessment or fine pursuant to law, or seized
on execution or attached;
1
6. That the value of the said car is P290,000; 0
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7. That plaintiff is ready and willing to give bond executed to the defendant in double the
value of the property for the return of the property to the defendant should be adjudged, or for
the payment of such sum that defendant may recover from plaintiff in the action.

WHEREFORE, plaintiff prays that:

1. The sheriff or other proper officer be ordered to take possession of the car and dispose
of it in accordance with the Rules of Court;
2. After hearing, judgment be rendered declaring that plaintiff is entitled to the possession
of the car or, should this prove unavailing, sentencing defendant to pay the value of the car.

Manila, December 3, 1986.

ATTY. ASUNTO
XYZ Building, Manila
IBP No. 12345; 1/3/1986;Manila
PTR No.61879; 2/2/1986; Manila
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344

VERIFICATION
CERTIFICATE OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING
JURAT
AFFIDAVIT FOR REPLEVIN

SPECIAL CIVIL ACTIONS

COMPLAINT FOR EJECTMENT (1976, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997,
2000)

Question No. 18:

The lease contract between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes having expired as of June 30,
2004, Tom Cruise, the lessor, retained your services as a lawyer to file the appropriate legal
action against Katie Holmes, the lessee, for failure of the latter to vacate the leased premises
despite repeated demands. Prepare the complaint for ejectment.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION

METROPOLITAN TRIAL COURT
Branch III, Quezon City

TOM CRUISE,
Plaintiff,

- versus - Civil Case No. 61879

KATIE HOLMES, For: Ejectment

Defendant.
x ----------------------------------x

COMPLAINT
1
0
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COMES NOW, the Plaintiff in the above-entitled case, through counsel, and to this
Honorable Court alleges:

1. That plaintiff is of age, married and residing at No. 80 Agno Street, Quezon City, while
defendant is likewise of age, married and residing at No. 100 Agno Street, Quezon City, where he
may be served with summons;

2. That plaintiff is the owner of a semi-concrete bungalow located at No. 100 Agno Street,
Quezon City;

3. That on June 10, 2001, plaintiff leased the said bungalow to the defendant for the next
three (3) years at a monthly rental of P1,000.00, payable within the first five days of each month,
and that the lease contract thereon is hereto attached as Annex “A”;

4. That since June 11, 2004, the lease contract had already expired and, despite repeated
demands, defendant had refused to vacate the premises and continues to occupy the same.

5. That written demand (Annex “B” hereof) to vacate and pay rentals in arrears was sent to
and received by defendant but despite said demand, he failed to vacate the same or pay said
rentals.

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that judgment be rendered against the defendant

ordering her:
1. To vacate the premises;
2. To pay the monthly sum of P1,000.00 beginning on June 11, 2004, with interest thereon
at the legal rate until fully paid, until the defendant vacates said premises;
3. To pay the sum of P2,000.00 as litigation expenses and attorney’s fees.

Quezon City, July 7, 1983.

LAWRENCE VILLEGAS
Attorney for the Plaintiff
XYZ Building, Quezon City
IBP No. 12345; 1/3/1983; Quezon City
PTR No.61879; 2/2/1983; Quezon City
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344

VERIFICATION
CERTIFICATION OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING
JURAT
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

CRIMINAL ACTIONS
INFORMATION FOR RAPE (1998, 2000, 2003)
Question No. 20:
Prepare an Information for rape of a 14-year old girl committed by the common-law
spouse of her mother warranting the imposition of the death penalty.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT 1
Branch I, Manila 0
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PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES,

Plaintiff,

- versus - CRIM. CASE NO. 102098

MARTIN PARK, For: Rape

Defendant.
x ---------------------------------------------- x
INFORMATION
The undersigned Public Prosecutor for the City of Manila, hereby accuses MARTIN PARK of
the crime of Rape committed as follows, to wit:

That, on or about 10:00 p.m. of July 4, 2000, at his house in 26 Legaspi Street, Tondo,
Manila, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the said accused, by means of repeated
blows to the stomach which rendered the victim unconscious, did then and there, willfully,
unlawfully and feloniously, have carnal knowledge of Jasmine Bukid, who was then a minor child,
14 years of age, and daughter of Jamaica Bukid, the common law spouse of the accused.

Contrary to law.

Manila, September 23, 2000.

LAWRENCE VILLEGAS
Public Prosecutor
December 31, 2000
IBP No. 61879; 1/2/2000; Manila
PTR No. 112098; 2/2/2000; Manila
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344

CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that a preliminary investigation has been conducted in the above-entitled
case, and that on the basis of the evidence presented there is reasonable ground to believe that
the offense charged has been committed and the accused is probably guilty thereof.
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

Manila, September 23, 2000.

LAWRENCE VILLEGAS.
Public Prosecutor

JURAT

SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS

PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS (1979, 1992) 1

Question No. 21:
0
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Prepare a petition for habeas corpus on behalf of Major Vanilla who has been arrested
by superior police authorities and detained at the Police Sub-Station 5 of Quezon City since
August 30, 1992 for participation in a robbery with homicide case.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 1, Quezon City

IN THE MATTER OF THE

APPLICATION FOR HABEAS CORPUS
IN BEHALF OF MAJOR R. VANILLA

MARY VANILLA,
Petitioner,

- versus -

CHRISTIAN TUGADI
Superintendent, PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE
Respondent.
x ---------------------------------------------------------------------- x

PETITION
COMES NOW the petitioner, by her undersigned counsel and to this Honorable Court
respectfully states:

1. That petitioner of legal age, Filipino citizen, is the wife of Major R. VANILLA, residing at
177 Mayon, Quezon City; that respondent is the incumbent Superintendent of the Philippine
National Police, Quezon City with office at City Hall, Quezon City, where he may be served with
summons and other court processes;

2. That on August 30, 1992 Major R. Vanilla of the PNP, Quezon City while holding a gun
was arrested by superior police authorities for alleged participation in a robbery with homicide in
Quezon City;
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3. That since then and up to the present, Major R. Vanilla was detained at the Police Sub-
Station 5, Quezon City, without any formal charge filed against him;

4. That Major R. Vanilla had not participated in any alleged robbery with homicide; hence
his arrest and detention is without any lawful cause;

5. That Major R. Vanilla is restrained of his liberty without due process of law.

WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing, it is respectfully prayed that this Honorable Court:
1. Order respondent and/or his agents to appear before this Honorable Court and produce
Major R. Vanilla and forthwith explain why he should not be released from detention immediately;
2. Declare his arrest and detention as invalid and unconstitutional.

Petitioner further prays for such other relief and remedy as this Honorable Court may deem
just and equitable. 1
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Quezon City, Philippines, September 26, 1992.

LAWRENCE VILLEGAS
Counsel for Petitioner
IBP No. 61879; 1/2/1992; Quezon City
PTR No. 112098; 2/2/1992; Quezon City
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344
VERIFICATION

I, Mary Vanilla, hereby deposes and states that:

I am the petitioner in the above-entitled case;

I have caused the filing of the petition and the contents thereof are true and correct of my
own knowledge and based on authentic records.

Quezon City, September 23, 1992.

MARY VANILLA
Petitioner

JURAT
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 26 th day of September, 1992 by MARY VANILLA,
exhibiting to me her Community Tax Certificate No. 12346 issued at Quezon City on January 4,
1992.

LAWRENCE VILLEGAS
Notary Public
Until December 31, 1992
PTR No. 61879; 1/2/1992;Q.C.
IBP No. 112098; 2/2/1992; Q.C.
Roll of Attorneys No. 12344

Doc. No. 10;

Page No. 20;
Book No. V;
Series of 1992.

CERTIFICATION OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING

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2004 BAR EXAM QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

CRIMINAL INFORMATION; HOMICIDE

Question No. 1
Prepare a draft of a criminal information charging a person with the crime of homicide,
complete with caption and title and required certification re preliminary investigation. Do not
use real names but supply all facts needed.

Answer:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
MANILA

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES,

Plaintiff,

- versus - CRIM. CASE No. 147215

For: Homicide
Boy Asunto,
Accused.
x ---------------------------------------------- x

INFORMATION
The undersigned Assistant City Prosecutor hereby accuses Boy Asunto of the crime of
Homicide committed as follows:

That on or about August 12, 2001, San Juan, Manila within the jurisdiction of this court, the
said accused, armed with a bladed weapon, with intent to kill, did then and there willfully,
unlawfully and feloniously attack, assault and stab one Artemio Co, thereby inflicting upon him a
fatal wound which directly caused his death.

Contrary to law.
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Manila, October 15 , 2001 .

JOHN PASCUAL
Provincial Fiscal

WITNESSES:
BLESILDA CRISTOBAL MARIANO BATUMBAKAL

CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that a preliminary investigation was conducted in the above-entitled case,
and there is prima facie evidence that the crime of Homicide has been committed and that the
accused is probably guilty thereof.

PATRICK SALONGA 1
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City Prosecutor
Bail Recommended: None
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Question No. 2
Prepare an acknowledgment of a deed of sale of a registered parcel of land, consisting
of four pages inclusive of the page where the acknowledgment appears. Supply fictitious
names of the parties, the notary public and details of the parties’ community tax certificates.

Answer:

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
PROVINCE OF _______________ S.S.
CITY/MUNICIPALITY OF _______

BEFORE ME, this 10 day of April, 2005 in the Municipality of Malolos, Province of Bulacan,
Philippines, personally appeared ABC and DEF, with Community Tax Certificate No. 25-02-003180
and 25-02-056170 issued by Municipaility of Malolos, on June 4, 2004 and March 6, 2003,
respectively, known to me to be the same persons who executed the foregoing instrument, and who
acknowledged to me that the same is their free act and deed.
This instrument, consisting of 4 pages, including the page on which this acknowledgment is
written, has been signed on the left margin of each and every page thereof by ABC and DEF and
their witnesses, and sealed with my notarial seal.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my notarial seal, on the
day, year, and place above written.

JUAN IGNACIO

Notary Public for Malolos, Bulacan

#57 Sto. Nino Malolos, Bulacan
Appointment No. 578 Until January 1, 2006
Roll of Attorneys No. 632145
PTR No. 54217; [3/1/02][Manila City]
IBP No. 35654;[4/5/00][Bulacan Chapter]
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Doc. No. 45;

Page No. 008;
Book No. 53;
Series of 2005.

VERIFICATION; NON –FORUM SHOPPING CERTIFICATION

Question No. 3
Prepare a draft of the verification and non-forum shopping certification.

Answer:

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VERIFICATION
I, RAPHY GAYONA, subscribing under oath, hereby deposes and states that:

I am the plaintiff in the instant case.

I have read the foregoing Complaint and the allegations therein are true and correct of my
own knowledge and/or based on authentic records on hand.

I attest to the authenticity of the annexes thereof.

RAPHY GAYONA

CERTIFICATION

I certify that:

a. I have not commenced any other action or proceeding involving the same issues in the
Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, or different Divisions thereof, or any other
tribunal or agency.

b. No such action or proceeding is pending in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, or
different Divisions thereof, or any other tribunal or agency.

c. If I should learn that a similar action or proceeding has been filed or is pending before
the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, or different Divisions thereof, or any other
tribunal or agency, I hereby undertake to notify this Honorable Court within five (5)
days from such notice.

RAPHY GAYONA

NOTARIAL WILL; ATTESTATION CLAUSE

Question No. 4
Prepare a complete draft of an attestation clause of a notarial will.

Answer:
RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

ATTESTATION CLAUSE

We, the undersigned attesting witnesses, whose residences are stated opposite our
respective names, do hereby certify: That the testator, ___________________, has published unto
us the foregoing will consisting of _____ pages numbered correlatively in letters on the upper part
of each page, as his/her Last Will and Testament and has signed the same on each and every page
thereof on the left margin, in our joint presence, and we, in turn, at his/her request have
witnessed and signed the same on each and every page thereof, on the left margin, in the presence
of the testator and in the presence of each and all of us.

__________________________ ______________________________________
(name and signature of witness) (residence)
__________________________ ______________________________________
(name and signature of witness) (residence)
__________________________ ______________________________________ 1
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(name and signature of witness) (residence)

 CHECKLIST OF REQUIREMENTS  IV. SWORN STATEMENT or

AFFIDAVIT (VT-POS-SJ)
1. Venue
I. DEED (TAPCAPSA) 2. Title
1. Title 3. Person
2. Announcement 4. Oath
3. Party One 5. Statement
4. Consideration 6. Signature
5. Act or Conveyance 7. Jurat
6. Party Two
7. Signature V. JUDICIAL FORM (CTIBRAP)
8. Acknowledgment 1. Caption
2. Title
3. Introduction
II. CONTRACT (TAAWACSA) 4. Body
1. Title
5. Relief
2. Announcement
6. Attorney
3. Actors
7. Plus or addendum (such as verification,
4. Whereases
explanation, certification of non-forum
5. Agreement Proper
shopping, copy furnished, notice of
6. Conditions or terms
hearing)
7. Signatures
8. Acknowledgment
Note: The above pattern is available for all
kinds of judicial pleadings and motions. You
need only vary the contents and the plus
portion.
III. LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT COMPLAINT
Note: It involves three actors making  The body of a complaint usually has two
separate statements, namely: the testator, parts: the identity of the parties and the
the witness and the notary public. cause of action (a statement of the right
1. For the TESTATOR’s statement of the plaintiff and a statement of
conveying the estate to his heirs, use defendant’s violation of such right)
the format of the ordinary deed.
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 PLUS: Proof of service and

2. The three WITNESSES make an
“attestation” as to number of pages
of the will and the fact that the
testator signed the will and every
page of it in the presence of the
witnesses, and that the latter
witnessed and signed the will and all
its pages on the left margin in the
presence of the testator and of one
another.
3. The NOTARY PUBLIC states in the
acknowledgment that the testator
and his witnesses acknowledged the
will and its attestation before him.
Explanation
Statement of copy furnished to the
adverse party
 If filing of a pleading or service of its
copy on adverse party is done by
REGISTERED MAIL, another plus is the
need to give an explanation why personal
filing or service could not be done.
 DENIAL OF AN ACTIONABLE DOCUMENT
PLUS: Verification and Copy furnished
MOTION
 The body of a motion usually has two
parts: the ground for the motion and the 1
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 PLUS: Proof of Service and Explanation

Statement of copy furnished to
the adverse party

INFORMATION (CTIBAP)
1. Caption
2. Title
3. Introduction
4. Body
5. Attorney
6. Plus or Addendum
 Certification (mandatory)
 List of witnesses
 Recommended amount of bail

 The People of the Philippines is

denominated as plaintiff even if the
person charged is called the accused.
 The prosecutor omits the mention of
the relief he wants because the law
prescribes penalties for specific
crimes.

RED NOTES IN PRACTICAL EXERCISES

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