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 will provides for another
all-important legal safeguard against spurious wills or those made beyond the
free consent of the testator.
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