Signatures and Burden of Proof

A bit of an update first, my Covid RT-PCR came today and I tested negative! YAY! But nope, this girl is not returning to work any time soon. I would stick to my 2-week leave and just shed some skin. Hopefully, this gets me more recharged and feel a bit positive with my work.

I recently got a chance to talk to a friend. We were talking about how we should hang out soon, as it has been quite some time since we last saw each other and we need to update each other on what’s happening with each other’s lives. 

Of course, I had to decline for now since I have been sick for a week now and I don’t want to risk anyone having contacted me and possibly having the virus. We talked for a little while and I explained to her what’s been happening with me over the past weeks, then all of a sudden she pulled a paper in her wallet… which weirded me out. 

It says there that I have to treat her to lunch if I pass the licensure examination, with my signature on the right bottom part. So of course, I was a bit skeptical how she got it and I had to argue my way out of it. It was a good argument but because of that I impromptu discussed the legal grounds concerning signatures here in my country, Philippines.

BE SKEPTICAL ABOUT SIGNING

I think we all have that parent-child moment where our parents would warn us not to sign anything without fully understanding what it says. Along with it, that we should not sign blank papers as they can be used against us and they can put whatever they want. Well... technically, I agree that you should only sign documents which you fully read and fully understand but honestly, not every signature can be imposed against you. If you are skeptical about if you really signed it or if you signed but it's not in the form you understand it to be, the burden to prove that you and the other have an agreement is on their side, not yours. Technically, the somewhat "protection" is with the one who the document is being imposed to.

SIGNING EVERYWHERE IS VALID

It is a common practice to sign at the right bottom part of legal documents but it doesn’t matter honestly. Even if you sign it on top, right, left or bottom, signing the document is signing the document. So the argument that you should have signed in the right bottom part really doesn’t matter, once you sign the document anywhere, you give it a legal life and it can be imposed on you.

INITIALS ARE SIGNATURE

I don’t know about you but I always have 2 kinds of signatures, one I use for formal documents and another one to use for just random things that require my signature, like an Official Receipt for a small item. Even though the other one is just a shortened version of my real signature, both of them are considered as legal or binding, both of them can be used against me. Signatures are just proof that you agree with the contract, no matter what form they may seem to be and honestly, there are no legal forms of a signature. You can write it however you want and I just remembered that as a child, I even invented a superstar signature, the one I would use if I were to be a superstar one day and this too, can be binding against me. 

And with digitalization and the whole pandemic thing, electronic signatures are wildly accepted these days. There is actually an existing republic act for it, RA 8792 but I think it needs to be more regulated to prevent future frauds.

BURDEN OF PROOF

If one day, someone comes up to you and says that you have to pay them one million because he/she has a contract that states those clauses and you signed it, the burden of proof is obviously on their side. They have to prove that not only it is your real signature but they also have to prove that you agree on whatever the stipulation or agreement there is.

Let’s say that 10 years ago, you sold a piece of jewelry to me and now you’re requesting for payment, the one million, this can be proof that I am indeed indebted to you but of course, it’s not as conclusive as it would be, but it could work as evidence.

Overall, I just wanted to say that not everything you sign or you think you sign can be imposed against you, you can have protection and if you want to know more, you can study the RA 386: CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES starting from Section 1156, obligations and contracts. For more details about electronic signature, you can read RA 8792: AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE RECOGNITION AND USE OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS AND DOCUMENTS, PENALTIES FOR UNLAWFUL USE THEREOF AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

I know bits and pieces about this because I used to take this subject way back in college and law was always an interesting subject for me. To be honest, I took up accountancy because I wanted to be a lawyer but now... I'm not pretty sure but that doesn't stop me in finding law amusing.

I hope you learn a thing or two, I might do some law facts again, as I really enjoyed writing about this one.

See you around!!!!

Lead image: Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash