Gross immorality

Lawyers are bound to maintain not only a high standard of legal proficiency but also of morality, including honesty, integrity and fair dealing. They must not only be of good moral character but must also be seen to be of good moral character and must lead lives in accordance with the highest moral standards in the community. These are the standards which this lady lawyer, Atty. Mina failed to meet.

Sometime in 1971, Mina met Gino, a would-be lawyer who was already married to Mely since 1962 and with six children. Their meeting developed into a romantic relationship as Gino confided to Mina his problems with his wife Mely and children. Gino also revealed to Mina that when he married Mely, he was still legally married to Connie whom he left precisely because he wanted to study law and become a lawyer. Mina then became the close confidante of Gino as the latter and his second wife Mely grew apart due to financial difficulties. Mina even helped build a house for his second family. Over a period of six years Mina continued her romantic liaison with Gino during the subsistence of Gino’s two other marriages to Connie and Mely.

Subsequently or on December 26, 1977, Gino’s first wife, Connie, died. So Gino already asked Mina to marry him. He convinced Mina (who was not then a lawyer yet) that he was free to marry because his marriage to Mely was not “valid”. So on March 27, 1978, they got married in Hong Kong. But upon their return, they still lived separately as Gino still went back to his conjugal home with Mely. In the meantime, in 1979, both Gino and Mina became lawyers.

Sometime in 1991, Mely discovered that Gino already had a child with Mina. In June 1993, Gino finally left Mely and their conjugal home to join Mina. Since then Gino failed to give financial support to Mely to the prejudice of their children who stopped schooling. So Mely filed a complaint for the disbarment not only of Gino but also of Mina.

In her answer, Mina denied that she was the mistress of Gino. She said that she and Gino had not committed an immoral act since they married when Gino was already a widower. She explained that Mely was not the legal wife of Gino since the marriage between them was void from the beginning due to the existing marriage of Gino and Connie. In fact she claimed that Gino’s marriage to Mely had already been declared void by the court. Should Mina be disbarred?

Yes. Immoral conduct involves acts that are willful, flagrant, or shameless, and that show a moral indifference to the opinion of the upright and respectable members of the community.

Immoral conduct is gross when it is so corrupt as to constitute a criminal act or so unprincipled as to be reprehensible to a high degree, or when committed under such scandalous or revolting circumstances to shock the community’s sense of decency.

Measured against this definition of gross immorality, Atty. Mina’s actions are grossly immoral. They were so corrupt as to approximate a criminal act, for she married a man who, in all appearances, was married to another and with whom he has a family. Her actions were also unprincipled and reprehensible to a high degree; as the confidante of Atty. Gino, she preyed on his vulnerability and engaged in a romantic relationship with him during the subsistence of his two previous marriages. Her conduct could not be but scandalous and revolting to the point of shocking the community’s sense of decency; while she professed to be the lawfully wedded wife, she helped the second family build a house prior to her marriage to Atty. Gino, and did not object to sharing her husband with the woman of his second marriage.

Atty. Mina’s behavior demeaned the dignity and discredited the legal profession. She simply failed in her duty as a lawyer to adhere to the highest standards of morality. This is in violation of Canon 7 and Rule 7.03 of the Code of Professional Responsibility which provide that a lawyer shall at all times uphold the integrity and dignity of the legal profession; that a lawyer shall not engage in conduct that adversely reflects on his unfitness to practice law, nor should he, whether in public or private life, behave in a scandalous manner to the discredit of the legal profession. Atty Mina was thus disbarred (Garrido vs. Garrido and Valencia, AC 6593, February 4, 2010, 611, SCRA 508).

Note: Books containing compilation of my articles on Labor Law and Criminal Law (Vols. I and II) are now available. Call Tel. 7249445.

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