Case Digest (A.C. No. 12274)
Facts:
Re: Order dated December 5, 2017 in Adm. Case No. NP-008-17 (Luis Alfonso R. Benedicto v. Atty. John Mark Tamano), A.C. No. 12274, October 07, 2020, Supreme Court First Division, Lopez, J., writing for the Court.
The complaint was filed by United Cadiz Sugarcane Planters Association, Inc. (UCSPAI) through its Corporate Secretary Luis Alfonso R. Benedicto before the Office of the Executive Judge, Regional Trial Court, Bacolod City, docketed as Adm. Case No. NP-008-17. Benedicto alleged that Atty. John Mark M. Tamano notarized UCSPAI’s General Information Sheets (GIS) for 2010–2014 without the affiants’ personal appearance and that Tamano assigned notarial particulars shown on those GIS to other, different instruments so that the GIS were not recorded in his notarial register.
In his Answer, Atty. Tamano admitted certain oversights by his staff, contending that Benedicto elsewhere had admitted executing the 2014 GIS and that UCSPAI benefited from the notarizations for SEC compliance. During a preliminary conference the parties stipulated that the GIS for 2010–2014 were not recorded in Tamano’s notarial register; certificates from the Office of the Clerk of Court and Tamano’s notarial books showed that the notarial particulars printed on the GIS corresponded to five other instruments recorded in his register.
On December 5, 2017, the Executive Judge, R.T.C., Bacolod City, issued an order revoking Atty. Tamano’s notarial appointment for the term ending December 31, 2017 (without prejudice to the pending administrative case). The entire administrative case record was transmitted to the Supreme Court. The Office of the Bar Confidant (OBC) recommended docketing the matter as a regular administrative case; by Resolution dated August 22, 2018 the Court so approved and required Tamano to show cause why his commission should not be revoked, why he should not be permanently disqualified from being a notary, and why he should not be suspended from the practice of law.
The Court referred the matter to the OBC for investigation. The OBC’s report found violations of Sections 1 and 2(a), Rule VI and Section 1, Rule XI of the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice and of Rule 1.01, Canon 1 and Rule 9.01, Canon 9 of the Code of Professional Responsibility (CPR); it recommended a two-year suspension and perpetual disqualification from being a notary. The Court, after ...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did Atty. John Mark M. Tamano violate the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice and the Code of Professional Responsibility by failing to record the UCSPAI GIS in his notarial register and delegating notarial recording to staff?
- If so, what disciplinary sanctions should be...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)