ILOILO City – “We must not be dishonest. We must act with morality and we must uphold the same.”
Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin exhorted lawyers to be honest when discharging their duties and responsibilities, in a keynote speech delivered at the start of the national convention of lawyers yesterday at the Iloilo Convention Center in Mandurriao district.
“Dishonesty in particular is considered a serious offense and grave form of misconduct whether the offense is committed in the discharge of one’s work or one’s personal feelings,” Bersamin emphasized to some 3,000 members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) attending the convention.
Thus, all lawyers should conduct themselves honestly and honorably in their personal and professional lives, he stressed.
Bersamin – the second Chief Justice to have been appointed to the position after the ouster of Ma. Lourdes Sereno in May 2018 – he reminded lawyers of their oath “to do no falsehood nor consent to the doing of any in court as well as wittingly sue any groundless, false or unlawful suit, nor give consent to the same.”
Violation of the oath or any of the canons of the Code of Professional Responsibility is a valid ground for disciplinary action, he stressed.
Bersamin, however, lamented that despite the clarity of the injunction to behave, jurisprudence is replete with examples of lawyers “failing in the duty to be honest,” resulting to their suspension or disbarment.
He gave an example – a lawyer professionally engaged to file a petition for annulment of marriage. In a matter of months, the lawyer produced a favorable decision and still later on, the certificate of finality.
The client was not aware of the falsity of the documents. She used them to support her application for renewal of passport and for amending her voter’s record to state the she was single.
To her surprise, she became the subject of a National Bureau of Investigation. She subsequently learned that her partner filed a complaint charging her of falsifying the court decision annulling their marriage.
Bersamin said the lawyer was disbarred by the Supreme Court.
“Perjury of a court’s decision deserves the highest penalty of disbarment because such act makes a mockery of our courts and erodes public trust in our profession,” said Bersamin.
This is the first time Iloilo City is hosting the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ (IBP) national convention. The event revolves on “upholding the rule of law in periods of great change.”/PN
