Atty. Charlie Pascual, a personal friend of mine, has recently found himself in the hot seat for notarizing the joint affidavit executed by the controversial 18 Marines regarding the delivery of bribe money to certain public officials and personalities. In fact, he was called by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to give statements, which, according to him, felt like being indicted for an issue he has no personal knowledge of.

Apparently, the agency wanted to establish a conspiracy. Because of that, his association with Atty. Levito Baligod and his connection with former Secretary Mike Defensor were being forced on him. At one point, he was asked about his being a member of a lawyers’ FB group called Musta Atty., whose administrator allegedly is a certain Michelle Defensor, who happens to be the youngest sister of the reported mastermind.

Upon inquiry by concerned netizens, however, it turns out that the real administrator is not that Michelle but another Michelle whose surname is Palmares, the respected former president of IBP Cebu. And although Pascual is a member of that group, he is just among the more than 41,000 members, which pretty much cover the majority of those in the legal profession.

To be honest, I really do not know what the NBI wants to prove. Although clearly there is some political purpose here, why does it have to go the extra mile and tag a mere notary public as being in cahoots?

Under the law, the job of a notary is merely to authenticate the identity of signatories. Before signing, his job is to confirm that by using “competent evidence of identity,” typically a current government-issued photo ID such as a passport, driver’s license or SSS card. He also ensures that signers are physically present, of sound mind, and acting of their own free will without coercion. After administering the oath, he affixes his official seal, signature and commission details to a notarial certificate.

That is all there is to it. He does not need to know the contents of their statements or their motivations behind them.

Unfortunately for Atty. Pascual, conspiracy theorists — including paid trolls and bloggers — beg to disagree. Some even claim he may have also received money for doing what he did, considering that allegedly hundreds of millions were utilized for this supposed operation.

When I personally talked to him, he said he was just asked to notarize because Atty. Baligod knows him, and, apparently, no other lawyer was willing to do it because of the political complications involved.

For some reason, the NBI would want to implicate him. That is not only absurd but even counterproductive.

If indeed he really notarized the document, is that not a positive thing, considering that if the 18 Marines turn out to be lying on material points, the powers that be can easily hold them liable for perjury?

Sadly, common sense, it seems, has left the room.