Manila, March 21 -- The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that lawyers cannot be held liable for notarial violations unless there is clear evidence that they knowingly permitted the misuse of their notarial commission.

The SC First Division has dismissed the administrative complaint against lawyers Delfin Agcaoili Jr., Editha Talaboc and Mark Oliveros due to lack of proof that they allowed the unauthorized use of their notarial signatures, notarial seals, and notarial registers for a fee, according to a news release on Friday.

The complaint arose from the alleged notarization of documents related to criminal cases filed before the Office of the Ombudsman concerning the Malampaya Fund scandal.

The documents were supposedly notarized using th...