CASE DIGEST
ESPINOSA AND GLINDO V. ATTY. OMAÑA
[A.C. No. 9081, October 12, 2011]
SECOND DIVISION, CARPIO, J.
Notarial Practice; Code of Professional Responsibility; Void Agreements; Lawyer's Duty Not to Facilitate Illegal Acts; Notary Public's Personal Responsibility
A lawyer violates the Code of
Professional Responsibility by preparing or notarizing an agreement that is
void for being contrary to law and public policy, particularly one that
purports to extrajudicially dissolve a valid marriage and the conjugal partnership.
A notary public must not facilitate the disintegration of marriage and the
family by giving the appearance of legality to void agreements. Moreover, a
notary public is personally accountable for every document entered in the
notarial register and cannot evade liability by attributing the notarization to
a secretary or office staff.
Rodolfo A. Espinosa and his wife, Elena Marantal, whose marriage had been solemnized in 1983, consulted Atty. Julieta A. Omaña in 1997 regarding the possibility of legally separating and dissolving their marriage. In response, a document entitled "Kasunduan ng Paghihiwalay" was prepared and notarized. The agreement declared that the spouses would live separately, each would thereafter be free to find another life partner, custody of their children would be divided between them, support obligations were allocated, household properties were partitioned, and all future acquisitions would no longer form part of their conjugal partnership. Believing the agreement to be legally effective because it was prepared and notarized by a lawyer, the spouses implemented its terms. Eventually, disputes arose when Marantal assumed custody of all their children and took possession of most of their properties.
Espinosa later sought legal advice from his co-employee, Maximo Glindo, a law graduate, who informed him that the agreement had no legal effect because marriage and the conjugal partnership could not be dissolved through a private agreement. Consequently, Espinosa and Glindo filed a disbarment complaint against Atty. Omaña before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), charging her with violating her lawyer's oath, malpractice, and gross misconduct.
Atty. Omaña denied preparing or notarizing the document. She claimed that although Espinosa initially requested her to notarize the agreement, she refused because it was illegal. She alleged that while she was away from her office, her office staff, without her knowledge or authority, forged her signature and notarized the document. She presented an affidavit executed by Marantal and a letter of apology from her office staff admitting responsibility for the unauthorized notarization. However, Espinosa later submitted a supplemental affidavit stating that Omaña herself went to his residence with the woman who notarized the document, thereby contradicting her version of events.
The IBP Commission on Bar Discipline found Atty. Omaña administratively liable for violating Rule 1.01, Canon 1 of the Code of Professional Responsibility. It held that she failed to exercise the diligence required of a notary public and found her explanations inconsistent and incredible. The IBP recommended her suspension from the practice of law for one year and from notarial practice for two years. The IBP Board of Governors adopted the recommendation.
Whether or not Atty. Julieta A. Omaña
violated the Code of Professional Responsibility by preparing and notarizing
the "Kasunduan ng Paghihiwalay."
YES. The Supreme Court adopted the findings and recommendation of the IBP and held that Atty. Omaña violated Rule 1.01, Canon 1 of the Code of Professional Responsibility, which prohibits lawyers from engaging in unlawful, dishonest, immoral, or deceitful conduct. The Court reiterated the settled rule that an extrajudicial dissolution of marriage or of the conjugal partnership is void and contrary to law and public policy. A lawyer should never prepare or notarize an agreement that purports to dissolve a valid marriage, authorize spouses to separate permanently, or divide the conjugal partnership without judicial authority, as doing so lends a false appearance of legality to an invalid transaction and undermines the constitutional policy of preserving marriage and the family.
The Court likewise rejected Atty. Omaña's attempt to shift responsibility to her office staff. It agreed with the IBP that the evidence indicated that she herself notarized the document. Even assuming that her staff had actually notarized it without authority, such circumstance would not absolve her of administrative liability. A notary public bears personal responsibility for every notarized document entered in the notarial register and cannot avoid accountability by blaming a secretary, assistant, or any member of the office staff. Her failure to supervise her notarial practice constituted negligence incompatible with the duties of a lawyer and notary public.
The Supreme Court emphasized that lawyers are officers of the court whose primary duty is to uphold the law and promote respect for legal institutions. Instead of advising clients to pursue proper legal remedies available under the law, Atty. Omaña facilitated the execution of a document that she knew—or was presumed to know—had absolutely no legal effect. Such conduct constituted a breach of professional ethics warranting disciplinary sanction.
Accordingly,
the Supreme Court SUSPENDED Atty. Julieta A. Omaña from the practice of law
for one (1) year, REVOKED her notarial commission, if still existing,
and SUSPENDED her from being commissioned as a notary public for two (2)
years.
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