Batangas mayor to file disbarment case against Brillantes

MANILA, Philippines - A Batangas town mayor will file tomorrow a disbarment case against Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) for alleged forum shopping in an electoral protest case that he handled when he was still a poll lawyer.   

Mayor Renato Federico of Sto. Tomas town, through his lawyer Demetrio Custodio, said Brillantes should be disbarred because he allegedly violated Canons 12.02 and 12.04 of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Supreme Court Administrative Circular No. 04-94 which prohibit forum shopping.     

“We have a rule in the law that says that you cannot file two or more petitions that are the same in prayers… A violation of this rule is ground for disbarment,” Custodio said.

Forum shopping is a ground for disciplinary action against an erring lawyer because it can delay, impede or obstruct the administration of justice.

Custodio said two of the three cases lodged with the Comelec against Federico were filed by Brillantes and another lawyer, Robespierre Cu, who represented Federico’s rival, Osmundo Maligaya.

One petition is seeking the proclamation of Maligaya as duly elected mayor of Sto. Tomas town in the 2010 polls. The other petition is seeking the same, plus the nullification of Federico’s proclamation.

“It should have been disclosed that there was a prior petition praying for Mr. Maligaya to be proclaimed and they could have not prayed for the third petition because it was exactly the same as the second petition. That is where the basis for the disbarment was found,” he said.

Asked for his comment, Brillantes said he had no idea about the complaint. “I don’t remember doing forum shopping. So I just have to study it when it is filed,” he said.