For the third time during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court (SC) extended until June 30, 2022 the validity of notarial commissions issued to lawyers who act as notary public and whose job, among other legal work, are to witness the signing of documents and verify their authenticity.

In a resolution, the SC considered the “continuing difficulties imposed by the ongoing health crisis” in the extension of the notarial commissions.

“Accordingly, all notarial commissions granted in 2019 and whose validity had been previously extended until Dec. 31, 2021 pursuant to the Court’s Dec. 1, 2020 and June 22, 2021 Resolutions are deemed further extended, and shall thus remain valid for an additional period of six months beginning Jan. 1, 2022 until June 30, 2022,” the SC said in a resolution signed by En Banc Clerk of Court Marife M. Lomibao-Cuevas.

The resolution also stated that during the said six-month period, “the notaries public whose terms are deemed extended pursuant to the latest Resolution shall continue performing notarial acts using their existing seals.”

The first extension was until June 30, 2021, while the second would last until Dec. 31, 2021.

The latest extension was sought in a letter-request of lawyer Rameses Victorius G. Villagonzalo who sought to extend the validity of his notarial commission issued in 2020, which will expire on Dec.31, 2021.

The SC has circulated its resolution on the extension to the Office of the Bar Confidant, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the Philippine Bar Association, and the Judicial Reform Initiative, the SC’s public information office (PIO) said.