4/16/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Tom Pek).[37] Catalino Reyes testified that on two separate instances, petitioner asked him to prepare two of the five checks questioned in this case, specifically, the check for P700,000.00, dated February 19, 1979 and payable to Papercon, and the check for P12,700.00, dated February 23, 1979 and payable to cash.[38] He witnessed petitioner study the information typed on the checks, sign the checks, and hand them over to Tom Pek.[39] The microfilm copies of these checks were submitted in evidence.[40] They all bear the signature of petitioner. Confronted with such direct and positive evidence that he authorized the opening of the account and signed the questioned checks, it is curious that petitioner did not take the witness stand to refute Reyes's testimony. He did present as his rebuttal witness a teller of Metrobank (in which he also maintained a checking account) who testified that she had assisted petitioner in some withdrawals with Metrobank and in these instances it was petitioner himself, unassisted, who filled out his checks.[41] Thus, petitioner attempted to show that he prepared his own checks as a matter of practice. However, we note that the Metrobank teller testified to checks issued on December 1989, or long after the herein questioned checks were issued. It would neither be fair nor accurate to compare the practice of petitioner in issuing checks in 1979, when admittedly he was still unfamiliar with the English language, with the manner by which he prepared his checks ten years later. To our mind, the best witness to counter the testimony of Catalino Reyes would be petitioner himself, simply because, based on the statements of Reyes, the only persons present when petitioner allegedly instructed Reyes to open the account and signed the checks were Reyes, petitioner himself, and Tom Pek. (Tom Pek died during the course of the proceedings.) Besides, if indeed Catalino Reyes lied in saying that petitioner instructed the opening of the account and issued the checks, we cannot imagine a more natural reaction of petitioner than wanting to set the record right. Moreover, petitioner's signatures on the questioned checks amounts to prima facie evidence that he issued those checks. By denying that he issued the said checks it is he who puts into question the genuineness and authenticity of the signatures appearing thereon, and it is he who has the burden of proving that those signatures were forgeries. No shred of evidence was presented by petitioner to show that the signatures were not his. All that this petition relies on insofar as concerning the authenticity of the signatures is the finding of the trial court judge that there was a discrepancy between the signatures on the bank form and petitioner's passport. As stated in the RTC decision: xxx An examination of the signatures of the plaintiff on the said documents will, however, show to an ordinary person the discrepancy in the said signatures. The letter "H" in Chiang as appearing in the application form is in "script" whereas the said letter appearing in his passport is in "print".[42] https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/50982 8/14