SC disbars lawyer who falsified court decision on annulment

The Supreme Court (SC) has kicked out of the legal profession a lawyer from Cagayan province who tricked his client into using a falsified court decision on the nullity of her marriage to apply for passport renewal.

Found guilty of grave misconduct and violation of the lawyer’s oath was Atty. Carlos Rivera, whose former client, Flordeliza Madria, pushed for his disbarment at the high tribunal.

The SC ordered that Rivera’s name be stricken from the Roll of Attorneys and copies of the decision be furnished to the Office of the Court Administration (OCA) for dissemination to all courts nationwide, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the Office of the Bar Confidant, and the Office of the Prosecutor General at the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution of Rivera.

Madria had sought Rivera’s legal services for P25,000 when she had her marriage annulled in 2002.

She claimed that Rivera advised her to just wait for the decision and assured that she did not need to appear in court, explaining all court notices and processes would be sent to his office, and that he would regularly update her on the developments.

Madria later on received a copy of the April 16, 2003 decision, purportedly signed by Judge Lyliha Abella Aquino of the Tuguegarao City Regional Trial Court Branch 4, granting her petition for annulment, as well as a copy of the certificate of finality dated September 26, 2003 signed by one Jacinto Danao of the RTC Branch 4.

But when Madria used the decision as supporting document for her passport renewal, her husband filed a complaint accusing her of fabricating the decision. Madria then checked with the Tuguegarao RTC Branch 4 who told her that the decision and certificate were indeed falsified.

Madria ended up being sued for violation of the Philippine Passport Act at the Tuguegarao City RTC after she declared she was single and used the fake decision as a supporting document.

Rivera did not deny to the SC that he falsified the court documents but said he was forced to do it due to Madria's persistent prodding.

The high court rejected Rivera's explanation.

"A lawyer who causes the simulation of court documents not only violates the court and its processes, but also betrays the trust and confidence reposed in him by his client and must be disbarred to maintain the integrity of the law profession," the SC said in a decision dated March 7.

“Simulating or participating in the simulation of a court decision and a certificate of finality of the same decision is an outright criminal falsification or forgery. One need not be a lawyer to know so, but it was worse in the respondent’s case because he was a lawyer. Thus, his acts were legally intolerable,” it added.

According to the SC, Rivera violated Rules 1.01 and 1.02, Canon 1, and Rule 15.07 of the Code of Professional Responsibility.

These rules mandate a lawyer to obey legal processes, impress upon his client compliance with the law and prohibit the engagement in "unlawful, dishonest, immoral or deceitful conduct."

SC records showed Rivera had already been suspended from the practice of law in 2006 because he had notarized documents without authority from the court. — MDM, GMA News