Torres, R-Saipan, narrated his experience last month when he escorted a private citizen whose request for assistance was “rejected” by the notary public of the Office of the Public Auditor.
He said according to OPA, its notary publics are for government use only.
“And banks that have notary publics within [their] offices do not accept notaries from non-costumers,” he said.
To address the issue, Torres has introduced a bill to revise and amend the Notary Public Act.
His bill proposes to increase the required age of a notary public from 18 to 21 and states that mayors need not be agents for the notary public.
Torres said he is proposing to delete the “redundancies” in the Notary Public Act while extending the term of notary publics from two to four years.
“I am a notary public myself but I did not renew because of the hassle,” Torres said.
