Supreme Court disbars 2 lawyers for dishonesty

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court disbarred two lawyers and suspended another for various offenses in a continuing effort to rid the judiciary of misfits.

The SC decisions came after it dismissed three trial court judges and suspended three court personnel in less than three weeks. Media personality Melanio “Batas” Mauricio Jr. was recently suspended from practicing law for three years.

The SC said it disbarred Maricel Pascual-Lopez for representing conflicting interests and for engaging in “unlawful, dishonest, and deceitful conduct” in violation of the lawyer’s oath and the code of professional res­ponsibility.

Her dismissal stemmed from a disbarment complaint filed by Rolando Pacana, Jr., operations director of Multitel Communications Corp. (now Precedent Communications Corp.), who sought her advice for his legal problem with Multitel’s investors.

Pacana acted as trustee for a P30-million Multitel fund deposited with Real Bank. He said he had a lawyer-client relationship with Lopez although he did not sign a retainer agreement proposed by Lopez, who verbally asked for P100,000 “acceptance fee.”

Pacana said he later received a demand letter from Lopez asking for the return and immediate settlement of the funds invested by her supposed clients in Multitel.

Lopez had also asked P1.9 million from Pacana, purportedly to be used only for his case whenever necessary.

Pacana said Lopez started avoiding him when he demanded an accounting of all the money, documents, and properties given to her.

Lopez eventually said the money and assets had been turned over to her clients with claims against Multitel, in exchange for clearing Pacana from any liability.

Another lawyer, Allan Macasa, was also disbarred for dishonesty and professional misconduct.

Court records said Macasa collected P30,000 legal fees and P18,000 for bail from the family of a client, Francis John Belleza, who was arrested in 2004 in Bacolod City on drug charges. Macasa failed to account for the money.

The SC also ordered the suspension of Braulio Tansinsin for six months for not acting on an ejectment case against a client in Caloocan City.

The SC said Tansinin’s failure to file an answer to the case against client Natividad Uy prompted a Caloocan City court to issue a decision against her. The SC said Tansinsin failed to apprise complainant of the status of her ejectment case.