Tigno v. Spouses Aquino 444 SCRA 61 (2004)

FACTS:

1.   Spouses Aquino filed a complaint against Isidro Bustria which sought to enforce an alleged sale by Bustria to the Aquinos of a 120,000 square meter fishpond located in Dasci, Pangasinan. The conveyance was covered by a Deed of Sale dated 2 September 1978.

2.    A compromise agreement was entered into between them whereby Bustria agreed to recognize the validity of the sale, and the Aquinos agreed to grant Bustria the right to repurchase the same property after the lapse of seven 7 years.

3.   Bustria died and was substituted by his daughter, Zenaida B. Tigno. On 1 December 1989, Tigno attempted to repurchase the property by filing a Motion for Consignation and depositing 230,000 with the RTC, but this was opposed by the Aquinos arguing that the right to repurchase was not yet demandable and that Tigno had failed to make a tender of payment.

4.      RTC denied the Motion for Consignation.

5.      Tigno filed an action for Revival of Judgment. The Aquinos filed an answer wherein they alleged that Bustria had sold his right to repurchase the property to them in a deed of sale.

6.      Among the witnesses presented by the Aquinos during trial were Jesus De Francia, the instrumental witness to the deed of sale, and former Judge Cariño, who notarized the same. These two witnesses testified as to the occasion of the execution and signing of the deed of sale by Bustria. Thereafter, in their Formal Offer of Documentary Evidence, the Aquinos offered for admission the deed of sale purportedly executed by Bustria

7.      The admission of the Deed of Sale was objected to by Tigno on the ground that it was a false and fraudulent document which had not been acknowledged by Bustria as his own; and that its existence was suspicious, considering that it had been previously unknown, and not even presented by the Aquinos when they opposed Tigno's previous Motion for Consignation.

8.   RTC refused to admit the Deed of Sale in evidence. RTC then ruled in favor of Tigno. The RTC therein expressed doubts as to the authenticity of the Deed of Sale, characterizing the testimonies of De Francia and Cariño as conflicting. The RTC likewise observed that nowhere in the alleged deed of sale was there any statement that it was acknowledged by Bustria; that it was suspicious that Bustria was not assisted or represented by his counsel in connection with the preparation and execution of the deed of sale or that Aquino had raised the matter of the deed of sale in his previous Opposition to the Motion for Consignation.

9.  CA reversed the decision of RTC and ruled in favor of Spouses Aquino. The appellate court ratiocinated that there were no material or substantial inconsistencies between the testimonies of Cariño and De Francia that would taint the document with doubtful authenticity; that the absence of the acknowledgment and substitution instead of a jurat did not render the instrument invalid; and that the non-assistance or representation of Bustria by counsel did not render the document null and ineffective. 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: W/N the deed of sale was notarized properly, hence admissible as evidence

RULING: No. SC ruled in favor of Tigno. RTC decision is reinstated.

RATIO: 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.

But there is an even more substantial defect in the notarization, one which is determinative of this petition. This pertains to the authority of Judge Franklin Cariño to notarize the Deed of Sale.

It is undisputed that Franklin Cariño at the time of the notarization of the Deed of Sale, was a sitting judge of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Alaminos. Municipal Trial Court (MTC) and Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC) judges are empowered to perform the functions 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. However, as far back as 1980 in Borre v. Moya, the Court explicitly declared that municipal court judges such as Cariño may notarize only documents connected with the exercise of their official duties. The Deed of Sale was not connected with any official duties of Judge Cariño, and there was no reason for him to notarize it.

Most crucially for this case, we should deem the Deed of Sale as not having been notarized at all. The validity of a notarial certification necessarily derives from the authority of the notarial officer. If the notary public does not have the capacity to notarize a document, but does so anyway, then the document should be treated as unnotarized.

What then is the effect on the Deed of Sale if it was not notarized? True enough, from a civil law perspective, the absence of notarization of the Deed of Sale would not necessarily invalidate the transaction evidenced therein. Article 1358 of the Civil Code requires that the form of a contract that transmits or extinguishes real rights over immovable property should be in a public document, yet it is also an accepted rule that the failure to observe the proper form does not render the transaction invalid. Thus, it has been uniformly held that the form required in Article 1358 is not essential to the validity or enforceability of the transaction, but required merely for convenience.

The Deed of Sale, invalidly notarized as it was, does not fall under the enumeration of public documents; hence, it must be considered a private document. The nullity of the alleged or attempted notarization performed by Judge Cariño is sufficient to exclude the document in question from the class of public documents. Even assuming that the Deed of Sale was validly notarized, it would still be classified as a private document, since it was not properly acknowledged, but merely subscribed and sworn to by way of jurat.

Being a private document, the Deed of Sale is now subject to the requirement that before any private document offered as authentic is received in evidence, its due execution and authenticity must be proved.

The Deed of Sale was offered in evidence by Aquinos, hence, the burden falls upon the Aquinos to prove its authenticity and due execution. However, the SC observed that no receipts were ever presented by the respondents to evidence actual payment of consideration by them to Bustria, despite the allegation of the respondents that the amount was covered by seven receipts. Also of note is the fact that there are glaring differences as to the alleged signature of Bustria on the Deed of Sale and as it otherwise appears on the judicial record.