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Cases on Legal Profession

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CASE TITLE
IN THE MATTER OF PETITION TO
AUTHORIZE SHARIA'H DISTRICT
COURT JUDGES TO APPOINT
SHARI'A
LAWYERS
AS
NOTARIES PUBLIC, ATTY. ROYO
M. GAMPONG, PETITIONER.
Bar Matter No. 702, May 12, 1994

FACTS
FACTS: Petitioner, a member of the Sharia Bar, filed an instant
petition praying that this Court to issue an order authorizing all
Shari'a District Court Judges to appoint Shari'a Lawyers who
possess the qualifications and none of the disqualifications as
notaries public within their respective jurisdictions.
On the theory that Shari'a District Courts are co-equal with the
regular Regional Trial Courts in the hierarchy of the Philippine
Judicial System, petitioner claims that by analogy, Shari'a District
Court Judges may be authorized to appoint the members of the
Philippine Shari'a Bar. Petitioner further argues that, being a
special member of the Philippine Bar and a practicing Shari'a
lawyer, notarial work is indispensable and imperative in the
exercise of his profession; therefore, he is qualified to be appointed
as notary public by Shari'a District Judge.

ISSUE/S
WON Sharia Courts are
authorized to appoint
Notaries Public.
WON
Sharia
lawyers are qualified to be
appointed
as
Notaries Public.

RULING
Shari'a District Courts do not form part of the integrated judicial
system of the Philippines. Shari'a Courts are not included in the
courts enumerated in Section 2 of the Judiciary Reorganization
Act of 1980. The fact that judges thereof are required by law to
possess the same qualifications as those of Regional Trial
Courts does not signify that the Shari'a Court is a regular court
like the Regional Trial Court. The latter is a court of general
jurisdiction, i.e., competent to decide all cases, civil and criminal,
within its jurisdiction. A Shari'a District Court, is a court of limited
jurisdiction, exercising original only over cases specifically
enumerated in Article 143 PD 1083. In other words, a Shari'a
District Court is not a regular court exercising general jurisdiction
within the meaning of Section 232 of the Notarial Law.
Furthermore, the qualifications for appointment of a Shari'a Court
judge are different from those required of a judge of a Regional
Trial Court.
The authority thus conferred by the Notarial Law upon judges of
the Court of First Instance, now RTC, in their respective
provinces to appoint notaries public cannot be expanded to cloth
the judges of the Shari'a District Court with the statutory authority
that provided their respective qualification. The authority to
appoint notaries public and the corresponding supervising
authority over them 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 is not a regular full-fledged
member but is only a special member of the Philippine Bar, he is
not qualified to practice law before the regular laws and
furthermore lacks the necessary qualification to be appointed a
notary public.

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