“By the time you open this (letter), you’ll be moments away from walking down the aisle. I will say a prayer for you that you may find meaning in what you’re about to do…” – Noli
AS THE month of love is about to end, let us begin this column with a love letter. Supposedly only meant for the eyes of the two lovers, the love letter somehow reached the Philippine Supreme Court. And what was once a letter of a private love affair, eventually became a damning piece of evidence now contained in the public records.
This love letter (marked as Exhibit “C”) was from a Supreme Court decision, a disbarment case, entitled, Guevarra vs. Atty. Eala (A.C. No. 7136, August 1, 2007). It reads:
My everdearest Irene,
By the time you open this, you’ll be moments away from walking down the aisle. I will say a prayer for you that you may find meaning in what you’re about to do.
Sometimes I wonder why we ever met. Is it only for me to find fleeting happiness but experience eternal pain? Is it only for us to find a true love but then lose it again? Or is it because there’s a bigger plan for the two of us?
I hope that you have experienced true happiness with me. I have done everything humanly possible to love you. And today, as you make your vows . . . I make my own vow to YOU!
I will love you for the rest of my life. I loved you from the first time I laid eyes on you, to the time we spent together, up to the final moments of your single life. But more importantly, I will love you until the life in me is gone and until we are together again.
Do not worry about me! I will be happy for you. I have enough memories of us to last me a lifetime. Always remember though that in my heart, in my mind and in my soul, you will always . . . and the wonderful things you do! be mine . . . and mine alone, and I will always be yours and yours alone!
I love you forever, I love you for always. As long as I’m living my tweetie you’ll be!”
Eternally yours, NOLI
Noli — a lawyer, despite being married, and had three children with his wife — still wrote this love letter to Irene. The letter was dated October 7, 2000, the day of Irene’s wedding.
“Unfortunately,” the love letter was found by Irene’s husband — in the master’s bedroom.
I highly suggest to the reader to read the entire decision of the Supreme Court in this link: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/44146
By reading the entire decision, the reader will then be able to “hear” Noli’s side of the issue. For interestingly, although the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Committee on Bar Discipline (CBD) recommended that Noli be disbarred for violating the Code of Professional Responsibility, the IBP Board of Governors “annulled and set aside the Recommendation of the Investigating Commissioner and accordingly dismissed the case for lack of merit.”
Noli had initially won.
But Irene’s estranged husband never gave up. He brought the case to the Supreme Court. And the Court said his “petition is impressed with merit.”
From here on, I don’t want to spoil the story — or the Court’s decision. For (again) in reading the decision in its entirety, it will give us full understanding of the issues, and more learnings about life, love, and the law.
So, here again is the link to the case: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/44146/PN
