Lawyer disbarred for extramarital affairs

The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday announced that it has disbarred a lawyer for grossly immoral conduct for having multiple affairs.

In a 24-page decision promulgated in June, the SC En Banc found a lawyer guilty of four counts of grossly immoral conduct in violation of the Code of Professional Responsibility.

The Court disbarred and ordered his name stricken from the roll of attorneys for the first and second counts of grossly immoral conduct. It suspended him from the practice of law for three years for the third and fourth counts.

“Considering that respondent is already disbarred for the first count of Grossly Immoral Conduct, the penalties for the second, third, and fourth counts of Grossly Immoral Conduct may no longer be imposed but should nonetheless be considered in the event that respondent applies reinstatement or judicial clemency,” it said.

The Court also gave him a fine of P400,001.

This is over the complaint filed by the lawyer’s wife.

According to the Court, the lawyer engaged in extramarital relations with at least three women during his marriage.

It said he also entered into a bigamous marriage and fathered two children.

Aside from this, it said the lawyer sexually harassed his house helper and law secretary by showing them pornographic materials. 

The Court noted that the lawyer exercised ascendancy over them as he was their employer.

“Given the situation, his employees could not be reasonably expected to be vocal about their discomfort against respondents’ behavior,” it said.

“Plainly, these women remained silent and continued to engage with the respondent even though they may have felt sexually harassed by him because their employment was at stake,” it added.—LDF, GMA Integrated News