How to Become an Electronic Notary Public (ENP) in the Philippines

Becoming an Electronic Notary Public (ENP) in the Philippines takes a commission of its own from the Supreme Court. A regular notarial commission does not carry over.

The Rules on Electronic Notarization (A.M. No. 24-10-14-SC) set up a separate commission for electronic notarial acts. A lawyer commissioned under the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice (A.M. No. 02-8-13-SC) is not an ENP by virtue of that commission, and an ENP can act only through an accredited Electronic Notarization Facility (ENF). The Court opened its portal for ENP applications on August 10, 2026.

The path has three parts, and the order matters: training on an accredited ENF, the application to the Court, then onboarding with the facility you will notarize on. This guide follows that order, with Twala as the facility.

Who can apply

An applicant must:

• Be a member of the Philippine Bar in good standing, with clearances from the Office of the Bar Confidant (OBC) and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)
• Be compliant with Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) and Unified Legal Aid Service (ULAS) requirements
• Have been a resident of the Philippines for at least one year
• Maintain a regular place of work or business anywhere in the Philippines
• Have no final conviction for any crime involving moral turpitude

Lawyers admitted too recently to hold an MCLE Certificate of Compliance, and those without ULAS details, are not shut out. The workarounds are in our answers to common ENP application questions.

Step 1: Train on an accredited ENF

Start here, not at the Supreme Court. The Court requires proof that you have completed training on an accredited ENF before it will commission you, and the application asks for that proof.

Twala’s course, “Primer on eSignatures and eNotarization in the Philippines + Twala ENF 101,” is free and online at Twala Academy, which states that it meets the Supreme Court training requirement for ENP applicants under A.M. No. 24-10-14-SC. When you finish, download the certificate of completion. It goes into your Supreme Court application, and you will confirm that you took the course again when you apply on Twala.

Step 2: Apply to the Supreme Court for your commission

Your Electronic Notarial Commission is issued by the Supreme Court’s Electronic Notary Administrator (ENA), not by the facility you notarize on. The Court’s process runs in seven stages:

1. Pay the application fee. ₱3,000, through the Judiciary ePayment System (JePS). The Court sets the fee and updates it from time to time, so check the current schedule on its eNotary Services page before you pay.
2. Register on the Philippine Judiciary Platform (PJP).
3. Submit your application with the required documents, which typically include the ENP application form, your JePS receipt, an IBP Certificate of No Pending Case, proof of MCLE compliance, your Professional Tax Receipt (PTR), and your Twala Academy certificate of completion.
4. Initial assessment of your application.
5. Virtual summary hearing, conducted by the ENA.
6. Second evaluation, to confirm that you meet the qualifications needed to discharge the duties of the office.
7. Commission issued. If you are approved, the Court issues your Electronic Notarial Commission for a two-year term.

The Court has not published a processing time. It depends on the volume of applications and on how the summary hearings are scheduled, so budget several weeks between filing and commission.

Step 3: Set up on Twala

With the commission granted, you can join the facility. On Twala that takes three moves.

Create your account and verify your identity. Sign up at platform.twala.ai and complete identity verification with your National ID or another government-issued ID, followed by a face scan. The ENP application needs a current verification, which has its own fee, shown before you start.

Apply as ENP. Open Account and profile and click Apply as ENP. The application has ten steps: Eligibility, Attorney, Commission, Business, IBP membership, Professional tax receipt, Unified legal aid service, Mandatory continuing legal education, Documents, and Review. You can save it and finish later.

On the Eligibility step you confirm four things: that you completed the Twala ENP tutorial course; that the Supreme Court has commissioned you as an ENP; that you have read and agree to the Terms of Use for Electronic Notaries Public; and that you comply with all legal requirements for notarial services, understanding that false information may lead to disqualification or legal action.

On the Documents step you upload PDF, PNG, or JPEG files of up to 10 MB each:

• Your certificate of notarial commission, always
• Your IBP ID or official receipt, always
• Your ULAS certificate, if you fill in the optional Unified legal aid service step
• Your MCLE certificate, if you were admitted to the Bar before 2026

Submit for review. A Twala reviewer checks your details and documents against your commission and credentials. In the meantime your profile reads Application under review, and you are told in Twala and by email once a decision is made.

Step 4: Get ready for your first act

Approval makes you an Electronic Notary Public on Twala. You can take appointments, perform notarizations, answer copy requests, and be listed on Twala’s Partner Network. Three things to set up before the first appointment:

• Your signature. Save it under My signature in the account menu, drawn, typed, or uploaded. Twala copies it into the record of every act you perform. Your notarial seal is drawn for you from your name and roll number.
• A payout account. Add a bank account or e-wallet under Payouts, with your payout frequency and tax details, so clients can pay your fees online. Without one, you can still collect fees in cash.
• Notary credits. Each act spends one credit when you request its payment, and credits never expire. Packages start at ₱500 for five credits, plus VAT.

No subscription is needed to notarize. Fees your clients pay online reach you as payouts on the schedule you choose (weekly, every two weeks, or monthly), less withholding tax and payment gateway fees. If you also want document management, AI tools, or seats for your staff, the plans on our pricing page add them. We go through the economics in why Electronic Notaries Public choose Twala.

Keeping the commission

The commission runs for two years. The Rules have you apply for renewal “within 30 days prior to the expiration” (Rule VI, Sec. 11), through an electronic application to the ENA. Miss that window and you are removed from the Directory of ENPs automatically, which blocks your access to Twala and to every other accredited ENF. The renewal requirements are listed in our ENP application FAQs.

What changes once you are commissioned

The territorial limit that binds a notary under the 2004 Rules does not bind an ENP. You can notarize for a principal in Davao from an office in Baguio, provided you confirm, as the Rules require, that everyone in the session is in the Philippines. You can work in person or remotely, through five acts: acknowledgment, oath, affirmation, signature witnessing, and jurat. On Twala, every act is entered in your notarial register and filed with the Supreme Court as soon as it is sealed.

Two more changes are worth knowing. The 2020 Interim Rules on Remote Notarization of Paper Documents (A.M. No. 20-07-04-SC) are repealed, so a video call over a paper document is no longer a route; remote notarization now means an ENP acting through an accredited ENF. You may use as many accredited ENFs as you like, with one account, one Electronic Notarial Book, and one seal on each (Rule VII, Sec. 3).

The duties stay where they were. You still have to be satisfied about identity, understanding, and free consent, whether the principal is on screen or in the room with you. Our guide to running a good remote notarization session covers the practical side, and what eNotarization means for the legal profession looks at the larger shift.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to become an ENP?

The Supreme Court application fee is ₱3,000, paid through JePS, and the Court updates it from time to time. On Twala, the Academy training is free, applying as an ENP is free on any plan, and identity verification has its own fee. After that, your running cost on Twala is the credits you buy as you need them.

How long is an Electronic Notarial Commission valid?

Two years. Apply for renewal within the 30 days before it expires.

Can I apply on Twala before the Court commissions me?

Take the Twala Academy training first, because the Court needs your certificate. The Twala application itself asks for your certificate of notarial commission, so it comes after the Court grants the commission.

Every step, with its links, is on our Apply as ENP page. For the principal’s side of the same framework, see our complete guide to eNotarization in the Philippines.

Twala is a Supreme Court-accredited Electronic Notarization Facility (ENF). Twala is a technology provider and does not give legal advice. Notarial acts are performed by commissioned Electronic Notaries Public.