NOTES ON NOTARY

A notary public is an officer of the court empowered to verify that a document was signed voluntarily and by the person whose name appears on it. Once a document bears a notarial seal, it gains a presumption of authenticity.

By law, notarization is an act of acknowledgment that the person appeared before the notary, presented valid identification, and signed the document in the notary’s presence–just like how PH documents are consularized abroad.

In practice, however, notarization here often happens after the signing, with the notary relying on word of honor that the parties did sign. This shortcut puts the notary’s license at risk, which is why some charge “absurd” fees (e.g., P1K/Mn of transaction value) — the risk premium of breaking procedure.

What Happens After Notarization?

Once a notary affixes their seal, notaries:

1️⃣ Record the act in their logbook.

2️⃣ Keep one original copy for their files.

3️⃣ Submit a monthly notarial report to the Court—within the first 10 days of the following month.

Foreigners

When foreigners sign in the PH, notaries often ask to see the Bureau of Immigration entry stamp to confirm they were physically in the country at the time of signing—covering their bases.

Ante-Dated Notarization–how?

Some notaries leave blank lines in their notarial register within the same reporting month, anticipating documents that will be backfilled later.

However, ante-dating across months/years becomes nearly impossible to justify once the monthly report has already been filed with the court—because entries are numbered sequentially and must match the submitted copies. It’s virtually impossible without falsifying the register—a serious offense that can cost a notary their disbarment.

Jurisdiction

Some brokers invite a notary public to the signing venue to make the process fully legitimate — a smart move. However, notaries are bound by jurisdiction. A notary licensed in Makati can’t legally notarize a document signed in Taguig. If they do, that notarization can be challenged or even declared void, since it was performed outside their territorial authority.

In the end, a stamp is only as good as the process behind it. ✅