Supreme Court lifts Lozano suspension

MANILA, Philippines - After nearly two years of suspension, lawyer Oliver Lozano can now go back to law practice.

The Supreme Court (SC) lifted last Friday its order in June 2010, which suspended Lozano indefinitely for professional misconduct.

“We lift the indefinite suspension from the practice of law of Atty. (Oliver) Lozano and reinstate him to the status of a member in good standing,” the high court’s four-page resolution said.

The SC cited Lozano’s petitions indicating that he had already learned the “need for care and caution in his representations as an officer of this Court.”

“In the past two years during which Atty. Lozano has been suspended, he has repeatedly expressed his willingness to admit his errors, to observe the rules and standards in practice of law, and to serve the ends of justice if he should be reinstated,” the SC explained.

“And in these two years, this Court has not been informed of any act that would indicate that Atty. Lozano had acted in any unscrupulous practices unsuitable to members of the Bar,” it held.

The SC added that it does not intend to prolong penalties imposed on erring lawyers that had already served their purposes.

The high court stressed that Lozano should “now avoid going to the extreme of employing contortions of and misusing legal provisions and principles to justify his positions, and instead focus his energies and talents towards a lawyer’s primary aim of promoting the speedy and efficient administration of justice.”

The SC had included in its 2010 suspension order Lozano’s daughter and law partner, Evangeline Lozano–Endriano. But in a resolution on Aug. 23, 2011, the SC lifted her suspension due to circumstances indicating lesser culpability on her part.

The Lozanos were suspended by the high tribunal after they were found guilty of grave professional misconduct when they misquoted constitutional provisions in their graft complaint against then chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. and Justice Alicia Austria-Martinez before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The complaint stemmed from the participation of Davide and Martinez in the consolidated cases of the heirs of Antonio Pael vs. Court of Appeals, and Destura vs. CA.

In March 2010, the Court issued a resolution dismissing the graft complaint against Davide and Martinez for lack of merit.