Lawyer charged over annulment controversy

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office has indicted lawyer Luis Diores, Jr. to an estafa charge for allegedly pretending to facilitate an annulment case.

Prosecutor Rodulph Josh Val Carillo recommended a P24,000 bail for Diores’ temporary liberty.

Carillo elevated the case against Diores in court after the lawyer failed to file evidence(s) to controvert the allegations against him.

The complainant, Aileen Bell, alleged that she went to Diores’ office on the first week of November 2008 to seek counsel on her plan to end her marriage. Diores reportedly accepted her case for a fee of P60,000 and a down payment of P40,000.

Diores allegedly told her that he could facilitate the case and will have a court decision within a week.

When she met Diores a week later, the lawyer reportedly gave her a photocopy of a court decision purportedly issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Olegario Sarmiento of RTC Branch 24 in Cebu City.

Bell said she asked for the original copy of the decision, but Diores reportedly told her the original copy would have to be sent to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

Bell said Diores allegedly even instructed her not to show the decision to other people “because he might be questioned on the fast resolution of the case.”

Bell eventually went to RTC Branch 24 to have her copy of the supposed decision authenticated only to find out that no such case was filed, docketed, raffled off or pending before Sarmiento’s court.

Following the filing of the complaint, Carillo sent a subpoena to Diores directing him to file his counter-affidavit but the lawyer failed to do so.

“From the foregoing, the undersigned finds probable cause to charge respondent with two separated charges: estafa and falsification of public document,” Carillo’s resolution reads.

The formal charge for falsification of public document is set to be filed in court. — (FREEMAN)