This document provides instructions for new lawyers in the Philippines on obtaining the necessary documents to apply for a notarial commission. It outlines the following requirements: 1) A copy of the Certificate of Membership in the Philippines Bar which is obtained after signing the Roll of Attorney. 2) A Certification of no pending administrative cases from the Office of the Bar Confidant which can take up to a month to acquire. 3) A Certificate of Good Moral Character from the local chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. 4) Clearance from the Office of the Clerk of Court which can be obtained in 30 minutes to an hour. It also provides details on obtaining an NBI

1. a. A Copy of the Certificate of Membership in the Philippines Bar – You get this after you
sign your Roll of Attorney. Have it photocopied, you do not have to have it certified.
b. Certification of no pending administrative case from the OBC – This one is the cause of
delay of all petitions. It took us a month before we can get this one. To get this, you have to go to
the OBC, fill out the form and pay the fees (about P100. 00 in 2017) plus LBC if you want them
to send it to you. One LBC can fit at least Three (3) Certificates so you can split the cost with
your friends. What we did is that we gave one address (our friend) and have all our OBC
Clearance sent there. By the way, it took as a month before we had our OBC Clearance.
To avoid delay, go to the OBC after Roll signing and fill out the form for your Notarial
Commission.
c. Certificate of Good Moral Character by two executive officers of the Local Chapter – Get
this from your local chapter. In Baguio-Benguet, the local chapter is located at the Third (3rd)
Floor of Justice Hall. The IBP personnel are very friendly and accommodating. Important: Bring
your IBP receipt before going there. You can get this immediately depending on your chapter.
d. Clearance from the Office of the Clerk of Court (RTC Clearance) – Go to the RTC Clerk
of Court and pay the fees. You can get this within Thirty Minutes to an hour.
e. NBI Clearance – If you are from Baguio City, I have a guide here. You can still get this guide
even if you are not from Baguio since the process is the same.
f. Three (3) Specimen Signature – Sign a blank bond paper with the signature that you want to
use. I am sure that most of us have been experimenting with our signature since First Year Law.
g. Three (3) Pieces of Passport sized ID – Paste/glue it in a piece of bond paper.
h. IBP Membership Receipt – You will get this once you paid your fees in the Supreme Court
i. PTR Receipt – Get this from your City/Municipal Hall, get your CEDULA first tell them that
you are a NEW LAWYER with no office yet. Bring your CEDULA to the counter for PTR
Receipt, tell them that you are a NEW LAWYER. The fee will not exceed P500.
STEP 2: Filing Your Petition

2. How to become a Notary Public for new Bar Passers in the Philippines. Now that you have
everything, you have to draft your petition and mark everything as Annex A to infinity. Ask your
friends if they have a copy of the Petition or go to the Clerk of Court and inquire.
You have to have your Petition together with the Annexes checked by the Clerk of Court first
before paying for the filing fee.
Step 3: Publication
You do not have the liberty to choose which newspaper will publish your petition. The court will
conduct a raffle and the chosen newspaper will publish and give you the affidavit of publication.
The fees that we paid is P2500 each lawyer, other batches paid P1500 each, others P650 each.
Yes, very expensive.
Step 4: Hearing
I will update you on this one.