Lawyer disbarred for abandoning wife of 66 years, 12 kids

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court has ordered a lawyer disbarred for abandoning his own wife of 66 years and his 12 children to live with his mistress, who's also married, with whom he has four other children, GMANews.TV learned on Monday In an eight-page decision, the court unanimously ordered the disbarment of Ponciano Arnobit for marital infidelity, abandonment of his family, and for cohabiting with another woman with whom he has four children. "Undoubtedly, respondent’s act of leaving his wife and 12 children to cohabit and have children with another woman constitutes grossly immoral conduct," the court said. "To add insult to injury, there seems to be little attempt on the part of respondent to be discreet about his liaison with the other woman." The court ordered that Arnobit’s name to be stricken off the roll of attorneys – 33 years after his wife Rebecca sought his disbarment on May 11, 1975. The lawyer's wife also filed for legal separation, which has not yet been resolved in another court. At first, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines recommended that Arnobit be suspended for three months. But the Supreme Court amended that to disbarment, calling the acts of the respondent as “willful, flagrant, and shameless" in violation of the Code of Professional Responsibility for lawyers. Under the code, disbarment is warranted against a lawyer who abandons his lawful wife to maintain an illicit relationship with another woman who had borne him a child, the SC said. "Good moral character is not only a condition precedent for admission to the legal profession, but it must also remain intact in order to maintain one’s good standing in that exclusive and honored fraternity," the court ruled. "A member of the bar and an officer of the court is not only required to refrain from adulterous relationships or keeping a mistress but must also so behave himself as to avoid scandalizing the public by creating the impression that he is flouting those moral standards." According to records, Arnobit married Rebecca on August 20, 1942, and sired 12 children with her. Rebecca further alleged that it was she who saw her husband through law school, supporting him until he passed the bar examinations. In 1968, Arnobit left their conjugal home and started living in with a certain Benita Buenafe Navarro, who later bore him four children, prompting his wife to file for separation. The delay in the resolution of the case was mainly due to Arnobit’s failure to appear before the hearings before the IBP despite due notice. In his written reply, Arnobit denied Rebecca’s charges, but did not to take the witness stand to be cross examined, nor did he present his mistress to disprove the reported adulterous relationship, nor did he deny being the father of her four children. Instead, it was the husband of his mistress who risked personal ridicule and testified on the illicit relationship. - GMANews.TV