SC admonishes UP law dean for ‘bad example’

(Updated 3:41 p.m.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday cracked its whip on Marvic Leonen, the dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law, for leading a group of faculty members in calling for the resignation of a magistrate embroiled in a plagiarism scandal. In its en banc (full court) session, the majority of the high court’s justices voted to admonish UP law dean Marvic Leonen "for intemperate language which is setting a very bad example to our law students." Thirty-four other UP law professors, meanwhile, have been reminded of their duty as officers of the court, while one faculty member, lawyer Raul Vasquez, was exonerated for earlier apologizing to the court. Another faculty member, Owen Lynch, was excluded from the proceedings because he is an American lawyer. In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Leonen said he will give his statement after he receives a copy of the SC's resolution admonishing him. At a news briefing, SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said that the admonition on Leonen serves not as a penalty, but merely as a "warning." For the 34 other faculty members, Marquez said the reminder means that the concerned professors "should go back and reflect what has happened and how they have reacted and be reminded of their oath of office as members of the Philippine bar." Del Castillo's alleged plagiarism The professors had criticized the alleged intellectual dishonesty committed by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo when he allegedly borrowed without proper attribution the works of three foreign authors in a decision he wrote in April 2010. The professors then called for Del Castillo’s resignation supposedly in order to protect the court’s integrity. In October last year, the SC exonerated Del Castillo and instead trained its guns on the professors, saying the airing of their statement publicly could be an ethical violation for lawyers. “The publication of a statement by the faculty of the UP College of Law regarding the allegations of plagiarism and misrepresentation in the Supreme Court was totally unnecessary, uncalled for, and a rash act of misplaced vigilance," the high court said. “The UP Law faculty would fan the flames and invite resentment against a resolution that would not reverse the said decision. This runs contrary to their obligation as law professors and officers of the court, to which they owe fidelity according to the oath they have taken as attorneys, and not to promote distrust in the administration of justice," it added. The SC also directed Leonen to explain why a “dummy" statement was submitted even if it was supposedly “not a true and faithful reproduction" of the UP law faculty’s original statement. Aside from Leonen, those in the line of fire are faculty members Froilan Bacungan, Pacifico Agabin, Merlin Magallona, Salvador Carlota, Carmelo Sison, Patricia Salvador Daway, Dante Gatmaytan, Theodore Te, Florin Hilbay, Jay Batongbacal, Evelyn (Leo) Battad, Gwen De Vera, Solomon Lumba, Rommel Casis, Jose Gerardo Alampay, Miguel Armovit, Arthur Autea, Rosa Maria Bautista, Mark Bocobo, Dan Calica, Tristan Catindig, Sandra Marie Coronel, Rosario Gallo, Concepcion Jardeleza, Antonio La Viña, Carina Laforteza, Jose Laureta, Owen Lynch, Rodolfo Noel Quimbo, Antonio Santos, Gmeleen Faye Tomboc, Nicholas Felix Ty, Evalyn Ursua, Raul Vasquez, Susan Villanueva, and Dina Lucenario. The court said they violated Canons 10, 11, 13 and Rules 1.02 and 11.05 of the Code of Responsibility. For the supposed submission of a dummy copy of the statement, Leonen violated Canon 10, Rules 10.01, 10.02 and 10.03, the court said. American professor On Tuesday, Marquez corrected his earlier statement that Lynch is among the 35 faculty members given reminders by the high court. In a phone interview, Marquez said that "because he [Lynch] is not a member of the Philippine bar, he is excused from the proceedings. But he is also reminded to strive as a model of respectable conduct even without threats of sanctions." The SC justices who voted to admonish Leonen were: Chief Justice Renato Corona, Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez, Diosdado Peralta, Jose Mendoza, Arturo Brion, Presbitero Velasco Jr., and Roberto Abad. Those who voted that the so-called UP Law 37's compliance (answer) with he SC's show cause order was sufficient were: Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Eduardo Nachura, Martin Villarama, and Ma. Lourdes Sereno. Del Castillo has inhibited himself from the court's proceedings on the administrative case of the UP law professors. Interestingly, Villarama, who is now among the dissenters, was the one who penned the SC's earlier resolution that ordered the law professors to show cause why they should not be disciplined for airing public statements against a member of the Supreme Court bench. — KBK/RSJ, GMA News