In the very recent case of AC No. 7036, Judge Laquindanum v. Atty. Quintana, June 26, 2009, which is summarized in the Philippine Supreme Court website (www.sc.judiciary.gov.ph), the Court revoked the notarial commission of Atty. Nestor Q. Quintana and disqualified him from being commissioned as notary public for a period of two years. Likewise, he was suspended from the practice of law for six months effectively immediately and was warned that a repetition of the same would be dealt more severely.
Atty. Quintana violated the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice and the Code of Professional Responsibility when he has notarized documents outside the area of his commission as notary public, performed notarial acts with an expired commission, allowed his wife to notarize documents in his absence, and notarized a document where one of the signatories there was already dead at that time.
The High Court also said that Atty. Quintana “fell miserably short of his obligation under Canon 7 of the Code of Professional Responsibility, which directs every lawyer to uphold at all times the integrity and dignity of the legal profession.”
