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The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law FoundationBAR MATTER NO. 702 May 12, 1994

BAR MATTER NO. 702 May 12, 1994

Gentlemen:

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a Resolution of the Court En Banc dated May 12, 1994.

Bar Matter No. 702 (In the Matter of Petition to authorize Sharia'h District Court Judges to Appoint Shari'aLawyers as Notaries Public, Atty. Royo M. Gampong, petitioner)

Petitioner Royo M. Gampong, a Bachelor of Laws (LIB) graduate of Notre Dame University who was admittedto the Philippine Shari'a Bar on October 7, 1991, filed the instant petition praying that this Court, after duenotice and hearing, issue an order authorizing all Shari'a District Court Judges to appoint Shari'a Lawyerswho possess the qualifications and none of the disqualifications as notaries public within their respectivejurisdictions.

On the theory that Shari'a District Courts are co-equal with the regular Regional Trial Courts in the hierarchyof the Philippine Judicial System, petitioner claims that by analogy, Shari'a District Court Judges may beauthorized to appoint the members of the Philippine Shari'a Bar. Petitioner further argues that, being a specialmember of the Philippine Bar and a practicing Shari'a lawyer, notarial work is indispensable and imperative inthe exercise of his profession; therefore, he is qualified to be appointed as notary public by Shari'a DistrictJudge. Petitioner likewise claims that Shari'a lawyers cannot be appointed as notaries public in their places ofresidence and in cities and other pilot centers where Shari'a courts are established because the RTCExecutive Judges in Cotabato and Maguindanao require them to secure certifications from the IBP Secretarythat there are no practicing lawyers in the place where they are applying. Thus, Shari'a lawyers lose theirchance to be appointed as notaries public because of the policy of the IBP chapters in Region 12 to appointregular IBP members practically in all municipalities and provinces.

The petition is denied.

The appointment, qualification, jurisdiction and powers of notaries public are governed by the provisions ofthe Notarial Law embodied in Sections 231 to Section 241, Chapter 11 of the Revised Administrative Code,Section 232 of the Revised Administrative Code as amended by Executive Order No. 41, May 11, 1945provides:

Section 232. Appointment of notaries public. Judges of Court of First Instance (nowRegional Trial Court) in the respective may appoint as many notaries public as the publicgood requires, and there shall be at least one for every municipality in each province.Notaries public in the City of Manila shall be appointed by one of the judges of the Court ofFirst Instance (now Regional Trial Court) of Manila to be chosen by the judges of thebranches of said court" (Words in parenthesis supplied)

Strictly speaking, Shari'a District Courts do not form part of the integrated judicial system of the Philippines.Section 2 of the Judiciary Reorganization Acts of 1980 (B.P. Blg. 129) enumerates the courts covered by theAct, comprising the integrated judicial system. Shari'a Courts are not included in the enumerationnotwithstanding that, when said B.P. Blg. 129 took effect on August 14, 1981, P.D. No. 1083 (otherwiseknown as "Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines") was already in force. The Shari'a Courts arementioned in Section 45 of the Act only for the purpose of including them "in the funding appropriations."

The fact that judges thereof are required by law to possess the same qualifications as those of Regional TrialCourts does not signify that the Shari'a Court is a regular court like the Regional Trial Court. The latter is acourt of general jurisdiction, i.e., competent to decide all cases, civil and criminal, within its jurisdiction. AShari'a District Court, created pursuant to Article 137 of Presidential Decree No. 1083, is a court of limitedjurisdiction, exercising original only over cases specifically enumerated in Article 143 thereof. In other words,a Shari'a District Court is not a regular court exercising general jurisdiction within the meaning of Section 232of the Notarial Law.

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The fact, too, that Shari'a Courts are called "courts" does not imply that they are on equal footing or areidentical with regular courts, for the word "court" may be applied to tribunals which are not actually judicial incharacter, but are quasi-judicial agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, Land RegistrationAuthority, Social Security Commission, Civil Aeronautics Boards, Bureau of Patents, Trademark andTechnology, Energy Regulatory Board, etc. 1

Moreover, decisions of the Shari'a District Courts are not elevated to this Court by appeal under Rule 41, or by petition for review under Rule 45, of theRules of Court. Their decisions are final "whether on appeal from the Shari'a Circuit Court or not" 2 and hence, may reach this Court only by way of aspecial civil action under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court, similar to those of the National Labor Relations Commission, or the Central Board of AssessmentAppeals. 3

Furthermore, the qualifications for appointment as a judge of a Shari'a District Court are different from those required of a judge of a Regional Trial Courtunder Section 15 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 129 which provides:

Section 15. Qualifications No person shall be appointed Regional trial Court Judgeunless he is a natural born citizen of the Philippines, at least thirty-five years of age, and,for at least ten years, has been engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines requiringadmission to the practice of law as an indispensable requirement.

In case of Shari'a Court judges, on the other hand, a Special Bar Examination for Shari'a Courts wasauthorized by the Supreme Court in its En Banc resolution dated September 20, 1983. Those who pass saidexamination are qualified for appointment for Shari'a court judges and for admission to special membership inthe Philippine Bar to practice law in the Shari'a courts pursuant to Article 152, in relation to Articles 148 and158 of P.D. No. 1083. Said Article 152, P.D. No. 1083 provides, thus:

Art. 152. Qualifications. No person shall be appointed judge of the Shari'a Circuit Courtunless he is a natural born citizen of the Philippines, at least twenty-five years of age, andhas passed an examination in the Sharia' and Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) to be given bythe Supreme Court for admission to special membership in the Philippine Bar to practicelaw in the Shari'a courts.

The authority thus conferred by the Notarial Law upon judges of the Court of First Instance, now the RegionalTrial Court, in their respective provinces to appoint notaries public cannot be expanded to cloth the judges ofthe Shari'a District Court with the same statutory authority. The authority to appoint notaries publiccontemplated under Section 232 of the Notarial Law and the corresponding supervising authority over themauthorized under Section 248 thereof require the qualifications and experience of an RTC Judge.

It must be made clear in this regard that since a person who has passed the Shari'a Bar Examination doesnot automatically become a regular member of the Philippine Bar, he lacks the necessary qualification to beappointed a notary public. Section 233 of the Notarial Law provides for the qualifications for appointment asnotary public, thus:

Section 233. Qualifications for Appointment. To be eligible for appointment as notarypublic, a person must be a citizen of the Philippines (or of the United States) and overtwenty-one years of age. He must, furthermore, be a person who has been admitted to thepractice of law or who has completed and passed in the studies of law in a reputableuniversity or school of law, or has passed the examination for the office of the peace orclerk or deputy clerk of court, or be a person who had qualified for the office of notarypublic under the Spanish sovereignty.

In the chartered cities and in the capitals of the provinces, where there are two or morelawyers appointed as notaries public, no person other than a lawyer or a person who hadqualified to hold the office of notary public under the Spanish sovereignty shall hold saidoffice.

In municipalities or municipal districts where no person resides having the qualificationsherein before specified or having them, refuses to hold such office, judges of first instancemay appoint other persons temporarily to exercise the office of notary public who have therequisite qualifications or fitness and morality.

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In an En Banc resolution of the Court dated August 5, 1993, in Bar Matter No. 681 "Re: Petition to AllowShari'a Lawyers to exercise their profession at the regular courts," this Court categorically stated that aperson who has passed the Shari'a Bar Examination is only a special member of the Philippine Bar and not afull-fledged member thereof even if he is a Bachelor of Laws degree holder. As such, he is authorized topractice only in the Shari'a courts.

Only a person duly admitted as members of the Philippine Bar in accordance with the Rules of Court areentitled to practice law before the regular courts. Section 1, Rule 138 of the Revised Rules of Court provides:

Section 1. Who may practice law. Any person heretofore duly admitted as a member ofthe bar, or hereafter admitted as such in accordance with the provisions of this rule, andwho is in good and regular standing, is entitled to practice law.

This Court further emphasized in its resolution in Bar Matter 681, that:

In order to be admitted as member of the Philippine Bar, the candidate must pass anexamination for admission covering the following subjects: Political and International Law;Labor and Social Legislation; Civil Law and Taxation; Mercantile Law; Criminal Law;Remedial Law; and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises (Sec. 11, Rule 138) Further, inorder that a candidate may be deemed to have passed the bar examination, he must haveobtained a general average of 75% in all the aforementioned subjects without failing below50% in any subject (Sec. 14, Rule 138). On the other hand, the subjects covered by thespecial bar examination for Shari'a courts are: (1) Jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Customarylaws (Adat); (2) Persons, Family Relations and Property; (3) Successions,Wills/Adjudication and Settlement of Property; (4) Procedure in Shari'a Courts (SeeResolution dated September 20, 1983).

It is quite obvious that the subject matter of the two examinations are different. ThePhilippine Bar Examination covers the entire range of the Philippine Laws andjurisprudence, while the Shari'a Bar Examination covers Muslim personal laws andjurisprudence only. Hence, a person who has passed the Shari'a Bar Examination, who isnot a lawyer, is not qualified to practice law before the regular courts because he has notpassed the requisite examinations for admission as a member of the Philippine Bar.However, the Shari'a bar lawyer may appear before the Municipal Trial Courts as agent orfriend of a litigant, if appointed by the latter for the purpose but not before the RegionalTrial Courts as only duly authorized members of the Bar may conduct litigations in thelatter court (Sec. 34, Rule 138).

Considering, therefore that a person who has passed the Shari'a Bar Examination is only a special member ofthe Philippine Bar and not a full-fledged member thereof even if he holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree, he isnot qualified to practice to qualified to practice law before the regular courts. As a general rule, a Shari'aLawyer is not possessed of the basic requisite of "practice of law" in order to be appointed as a notary publicunder Section 233 of the Notarial Law in relation to Section 1, Rule 138 of the Revised Rules of Court.

WHEREFORE, the petition to authorize Shari'a District Court Judges to appoint Shari'a Lawyers as notariespublic in their respective jurisdiction is DENIED.

Very Truly Yours,

LUZVIMINDA D. PUNO

Clerk of Court

By:

(Sgd.) MA. LUISA D. VILLARAMA

Assistant Clerk of Court

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Footnotes

1 See Circular 1-91, February 27, 1991.

2 Art 145, P.D. 1083.

3 See Resolution of November 26, 1990, G.R. No. 95895, Heirs of Datu MangindraSinsuat, represented by Lourdes Sinsuat v. Datu Haakon Sinsuat and Hon. Corocoy D.Moson, Shari'a District Judge; cf., Tampar v. Usman, 200 SCRA 652 (1991); Rulona-Al

Awadhi v. Astih, 165 SCRA 771 (1988).

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