SC disbars lawyer over TRO for sale claim

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has disbarred a lawyer for claiming that he secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) in a civil case by bribing a judge in the Parañaque City regional trial court.

Voting unanimously in a full court session last Tuesday, the justices – in a ruling penned by Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza – imposed the ultimate administrative sanction for lawyers against Jose Diño Jr. after finding him guilty of gross misconduct.

Records showed that Diño represented the company Vantage Lighting Philippines Inc. in a civil case filed before the Parañaque court in 2006.

Diño told officers of Vantage that he would need to pay P150,000 to the judge handling the case for the issuance of a TRO that they sought in the petition.

When Vantage vice president Ma. Cecila Roque told the lawyer that they would first discuss the matter with the higher management, Diño withdrew as counsel of the firm and sent a formal billing statement to the firm.

When the bill remained unsettled, he filed several harassment complaints, both criminal and civil, against Vantage and its officials, who filed the disbarment complaint against Diño in January 2007.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) found Diño guilty of violating the Code of Professional Responsibility.

The SC did not agree with the recommendation of IBP to impose the penalty of a three-year suspension from law practice against Diño, saying that it was “too light a penalty for a lawyer who, instead of protecting the integrity and independence of the court, besmirched its reputation by claiming that a member of the judiciary is for sale.”