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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Lawyer questions SC suspension ruling
By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
DISGUSTED by the order of the Supreme Court in suspending him indefinitely from legal practice, a Bacolod lawyer threatened to walk the streets to press reforms in the judicial system.
Lawyer Francisco Cruz, a known counsel of the Bacolod Diocese's Social Action Center said, "I am ready to go for broke and walk the streets to press for reforms in the judicial system."
At a press conference held at the Bishop's Palace, Cruz said he had resigned himself to "taking my suspension to the grave."
"I am prepared to be disbarred, to face the consequence, even to go to jail, in order to expose the violations of rules and decisions of the Supreme Court by Supreme Court itself," he added.
Three bishops in Negros Occidental and several cause-oriented groups supported his call for fair treatment by the High Court.
Cruz was placed by the SC under indefinite suspension as a member of the Bar and is prohibited from engaging in the practice of law in a resolution dated April 5, 2005.
The suspension stemmed from the case of Tacardon et. al. vs. Ramon Ang.
Cruz attributed the penalty to his continued search for answers to his suspicion that the resolutions denying his petition for review and his motion for reconsideration did not come from the honorable court at all.
He feels that it came from "some dubious authorship at the SC considering that there were numerous and clear violations of the rules that governs it."
In a printed treatise entitled "Requiem For The Rule Of Law," which was given to the media who attended the presscon, Cruz poured out his sentiments and frustrations with regards to the high court's prejudicial treatment of him.
He cited the latest case of Allan F. Paguia, who was also suspended, wherein the Justices themselves signed the suspension.
In his case the Clerk of Court signed it.
"I think I deserve no less. Or is it they consider me a lout," Cruz asked.
Lout is the rootword of "loutish," which was used in the resolution of suspension. It means "country bumpkin" or a "promdi."
He further said, that the failure of the members of the SC to sign the resolutions denying his petitions for review can be a fertile source of graft and corrupt practices.
"With the clerks easy access to the pink forms, lawyers who have contact with them can easily secure the dismissal of petitions through minute resolutions ostensibly issued by the court," he added.
Cruz states in his position paper, "I have decided to appease the Gods of Padre Faura by accepting my suspension. I am ready to take my suspension to my grave."
But he said he will not stop and that he will even march on the streets so his clamor for justice can be heard.
Cruz had been a volunteer lawyer for the Social Action Center of the Bacolod diocese since 1969. He handled pro-bono bases for indigent clients. He also offered his services under the Free Legal Assistance Group here during the Marcos dictatorship.
Among the more noted cases he handled was the defense of Columban missionaries Brian Gore and Niell O'Brien, Filipino priest Vicente Dangan and four lay leaders against trumped up charges filed by the dictatorship for the killing of Kabankalan Mayor Pablo Sola.
The case helped bring world attention to the abuses of Marcos and his regime.
The charges were eventually dropped in exchange for the missionaries' deportation.
For his work, he received the St. Sylvester's Papal Award for meritorious acts in 1985 and the Aurora Aragon Quezon Award for Peace Advocacy and Peace Making in 1997.
Cruz was indefinitely suspended April 5 this year, through a resolution signed by Clerk of Court Luzviminda Puno.
He was found guilty of direct contempt and professional misconduct after questioning the High Court's dismissal of his petitions seeking a reversal of a Court of Appeals decision.
This was in relation with the case he was handling against San Miguel Corporation executive Ramon Ang.
He asked the Court to reveal who authored the resolutions denying his petitions. Puno allegedly responded saying Cruz had "repeatedly insulted and threatened (the Court) in the most loutish and insolent manner.
Bishops Vicente Navarra of Bacolod, Patricio Buzon of Kabankalan and Jose Advincula of San Carlos wrote Chief Justice Hilario Davide asking whether or not the suspension was truly an en banc decision and not just by the Clerk of Court who signed in Davide's behalf.
The three bishops also stressed that the SC's decision sounds tame and appears to be a warrant to cut off Cruz' lifeline and the access of his poor clients to justice.
This letter and other letters to Davide seeking answers to questions raised by Cruz' suspension were subsequently denied in resolutions again signed by Puno.
"The Supreme Court has disciplined lawyers and judges. When its members abuse their powers, who will discipline them?" Cruz asked.
Acknowledging that his cause was like "Don Quixote fighting the windmills," Cruz said he is confident that his clients, the poor, will not let him walk the streets alone.
Cruz said many lawyers shared his suspicions that the High Court leaves it to its clerical staff to deny petitions based on technicalities" and that this practice "can be a fertile source of corrupt practices."
He also questioned the integrity of a Court that includes members "who came from the Office of the President and a former politician" and whether true separation of powers actually exists, citing the case of the Mining Act of 1995, which the High Court originally declared unconstitutional only to reverse itself after some justices supposedly met with House Speaker Jose de Venecia.
This and other decisions, he said, had made for a Supreme Court that has become anti-poor.
(December 14, 2005 issue)
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