SC: Gadon guilty of gross misconduct anew

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has again penalized disbarred lawyer Larry Gadon, this time for gross misconduct for committing perjury and making accusations based on hearsay.

The SC said it found Gadon, who currently serves as the government’s anti-poverty czar, guilty of gross misconduct for lying under oath when he claimed that former de facto chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno falsified an SC temporary restraining order.

Gross misconduct is punishable by disbarment, but since Gadon had already been disbarred, the SC said the penalty would instead be recorded in his personal file.

The High Court also fined Gadon P150,000 and adjudged him ineligible for judicial clemency, which would have allowed him to retrieve his lawyer title.

A disbarment case was filed against Gadon before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) over his lying in an impeachment complaint he filed against Sereno before the House of Representatives (HOR).

He was also accused of filing baseless criminal cases against several SC officials.

The IBP Committee on Bar Discipline then recommended that Gadon be suspended for two years for under oath. When the case reached the IBP Board of Governors, the board modified the penalty to three years.

The High Court said Gadon committed perjury for making allegations that are not based on his personal knowledge or any authentic records in the impeachment complaint he filed.

“This not only deceived the HOR, but also revealed an intent to inflict unnecessary harm to the reputation of a lawyer and former member of the Court,” it added.

The high tribunal said these findings confirm that Gadon was motivated by malicious intent to malign and defame the former de facto chief justice.

The high tribunal also cited Gadon in direct contempt for his allegations of bias and partiality against Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen and Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.

Prior to his disbarment, Gadon was suspended from practicing law by the SC for similarly using “offensive and intemperate language, and was warned that a repetition of the same offense will merit a more severe sanction.”

In response to the latest SC ruling, Gadon said the allegations in his impeachment complaint against Sereno “were not fully ventilated and heard because the hearings ended abruptly as it was overtaken by supervening events, particularly the removal of Sereno as Chief Justice.”

He added that irregularity, if any, on the allegations in his complaint should be decided upon by the House of Representatives, where the complaint was filed, not the SC.

The disbarred lawyer likewise said the P150,000 fine is “exorbitant and has no basis in jurisprudence.”