Suspected jewelry smuggler's lawyer faces disbarment case

MANILA, Philippines - The lawyer of a suspected jewelry smuggler is facing disbarment proceedings before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines for allegedly falsifying public documents in favor of his client.

Sources from the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group said PASG chief of staff Jeffrey Patawaran filed the disbarment complaint of Bonifacio Alentajan, lawyer of Siu Ting Alpha Kwok who was apprehended with some P200 million worth of diamonds and other precious stones in Quezon City last August.

Earlier, PASG chief Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr. and other PASG officials charged Alentajan with libel for saying Kwok was illegally arrested and that emissaries demanded millions of pesos for his client’s freedom.

Patawaran also charged Alentajan, Kwok and a notary public with falsification of public documents and the use of falsified documents to get Kwok out on bail.

Alentajan allegedly made it appear that Kwok has personally sworn before notary public Delfin Agcaoli Jr. in Quezon City despite the fact that Kwok was incarcerated at the Bureau of Immigration jail in Bicutan, Taguig.

The officials said Agcaoili’s notarial commission in Quezon City has expired in December 2008. – Paolo Romero