Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Camp John Hay lawyers face disbarment By Ace Alegre
CAMP John Hay lawyers Georgina Alvarez and Hilario Belmes are facing disbarment raps before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).
This is in line with the charges for robbery, malicious mischief, grave threats, and coercion filed against them last month before the City Prosecutor's Office. Also charged were other key officials of the privately run Camp John Hay Development Corporation.
The complainant, business concessionaire Corazon Aniceto, said her restaurant inside the John Hay Special Economic Zone was illegally demolished upon the officials' orders.
Aniceto, through her lawyer Emiliano Gayo, claimed before the IBP's Commission on Bar Discipline that Alvarez, also Camp John Hay senior vice president and Belmes, the firm's legal officer, "took the law into their hands and abetted their co-officers and co-employees of CJH to take the law into their hands in clear and grave abuse of rights."
The disbarment complaint against Alvarez and Belmes also emanated from Aniceto's July 9 complaint before Assistant City Prosecutor Rolando Vergara on the demolition of her restaurant, El Rancho, by Camp John Hay in the wee hours of the morning on April 30 despite an injunctive relief already filed in court.
"Without any court order or any notice to me, (they) demolished the structures of the restaurant and forcibly took away all the things there," Aniceto claimed.
Aniceto allegedly lost at least P5 million of her hard-earned money from her sheer entrepreneurial efforts for the past decades.
Gayo insisted that "although there was notice to vacate, there was no notice of demolition," though Alvarez insisted the concessionaire's contract had lapsed and the firm needs the area for the Ayala Development Plan, thus their notice for her to walk away from John Hay.
But Gayo suspected Aniceto was singled out, asking why other structures beside the former El Rancho restaurant have not been demolished until now.
Aside from Alvarez and Belmes, Aniceto sued Camp John Hay officer-in-charge Frederico Alquiros, project development officer Saldy Masarate, chief security officer Albert Escalderon, supply officer Austin Tiongan, security supervisor Renato Reyes, and several others John Does for the same criminal and civil suit.
Code breach
Aniceto through Gayo said before the IBP's Commission on Bar Discipline that Alvarez and Belmes breached the Code of Professional Responsibility and their Oath of Office, "when they allegedly ordered the demolition (even if) a case still pending in court."
The complainant also claimed the demolition in the wee hours of the morning "was to surprise (me) and render (me) unable to seek injunctive relief." Alvarez and Belmes, she added, "not only disrespected and disregarded the law and legal process, but engaged in unlawful conduct and abetted activities aimed at defiance of the law and at lessening confidence in the legal system in violation of their oath as lawyers and of Canon 1, rules 1.01 and 1.02 of the Code of Professional Responsibility."
Canon 1 states a lawyer must uphold the Constitution, obey the laws of the land, and promote respect for law and for legal processes.
Its Rule 1.01 stipulates a lawyer will not engage in unlawful, dishonest, immoral, or deceitful conduct, while Rule 1.02 says a lawyer will not counsel or abet activities aimed at defiance of the law or at lessening confidence in the legal system.
These tenets, Gayo explained, "underscore the role of a lawyer as the vanguard of our legal system," which both Alvarez and Belmes defied and violated.
By taking the law into their hands, Gayo further claimed that Alvarez and Belmes caused Aniceto to lose her sole source of livelihood in violation of her Constitutional right not to be deprived of property, without due process of law.
Aniceto was earlier allowed by the courts to litigate as a "pauper litigant" because she had nothing to pay for the filing fees at the prosecutor's office here.
Harassment
Alvarez claimed the disbarment case is part of Aniceto's harassment moves against them. "It is unfortunate that, aside from harassing our officers with criminal cases, comes this."
The Camp John Hay senior vice president also claimed these are already "part of desperate moves (of Aniceto) to unfairly attack counsels."
Alvarez vowed they will face the suits squarely.
Aniceto's earlier criminal complaint was also tagged by Alvarez as "totally without basis".
Alvarez said Aniceto's axe to grind comes from her "losing the injunctive relief she earlier sought but was denied."
Aniceto earlier petitioned Executive Judge Edilberto Claravall for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and was granted it. When the TRO lapsed, Aniceto once more asked for a preliminary injunction but this was denied.
"But we filed for a motion for reconsideration which is still pending in court," said Gayo. "It is not resolved yet because the civil case and other relief we sought in the civil case have not gone to trial," she said contrary to Alvarez's insistence.
