Five persons have been arrested in Manila for allegedly engaging in illegal notarization of documents.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) did not disclose the names of the suspects who will be charged with falsification of public documents by private individuals, possession of instruments or implements intended for falsification, and attempted estafa.

It said it acted on a complaint by a duly commissioned notary public who alleged that her notarial stamp and seal was being used without her knowledge and consent.

She led the NBI to the locations of the suspects in Manila, it added.

Under the Rules on Notarial Practice, notarization of documents can be performed only by lawyers who are commissioned to do so in a specified area by an executive judge of the regional trial court (RTC).

In 2025, the Supreme Court (SC) warned against “the proliferation of fake notaries public.”

The SC had repeatedly declared that “notarization is not an empty, meaningless, routinary act, but is one invested with substantive public interest.”

It pointed out that private documents once notarized are “admissible in evidence without further proof of their authenticity and due execution.”

“Full faith and credit are accorded to a notarized document. Courts, administrative agencies, and the public rely upon the acknowledgment executed by a notary public and appended to a private instrument,” it stressed.

Thus, the SC pointed out: “Hence, commissioned notaries are obligated to observe with utmost care the basic requirements of their duties. They cannot trivialize the Rules on Notarial Notarial Rules).

Indeed, their failure to observe the requirements and/or comply with the duties prescribed under the Notarial Rules constitutes grounds for the revocation of their notarial commission. Too, their violation warrants appropriate administrative sanction/s.”