Republic
of the
Supreme
Court
EN BANC
|
Re: Subpoena Duces Tecum
dated January 11, 2010 of Acting Director Aleu A. Amante, PIAB-C, Office of
the Ombudsman. X - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - X Re: Order of the Office of
the Ombudsman Referring the complaint of Attys. Oliver O. Lozano and
Evangeline J. Lozano-Endriano Against Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno [ret.]. |
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A.M. No. 10-1-13-SC A.M. No. 10-9-9-SC Present: CARPIO, VELASCO, JR., LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, BRION, PERALTA, BERSAMIN, DEL CASTILLO,* ABAD, VILLARAMA, JR., PEREZ, SERENO, REYES, and PERLAS-BERNABE, JJ. Promulgated: March
20, 2012 |
x---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------x
PER CURIAM:
We resolve the separate successive
letter-petitions[1] of Atty.
Oliver O. Lozano, addressed to the Supreme Court en banc, for the lifting of the indefinite suspension from the
practice of law imposed by the Court in its Resolution of June 15, 2010.
In our Resolution of June 15, 2010,
we found Atty. Lozano and Atty. Evangeline Lozano-Endriano guilty of grave
professional misconduct when they misquoted or misused constitutional
provisions in their pleadings[2] in
order to impute unjust acts to members of this Court. Subsequently, we have reinstated Atty. Lozano-Endriano
in our August 23, 2011 Resolution, because of circumstances indicating lesser
culpability on her part.
Professional misconduct involving the
misuse of constitutional provisions for the purpose of insulting Members of
this Court is a serious breach of the rigid standards that a member of good
standing of the legal profession must faithfully comply with. Thus, the penalty
of indefinite suspension was imposed.
However, in the past two years during which Atty. Lozano has been
suspended, he has repeatedly expressed his willingness to admit his error, to
observe the rules and standards in the practice of law, and to serve the ends
of justice if he should be reinstated.
And in these two years, this Court has not been informed of any act that
would indicate that Atty. Lozano had acted in any unscrupulous practices
unsuitable to a member of the bar.
While this Court will not hesitate to
discipline its erring officers, it will not prolong a penalty after it has been
shown that the purpose for imposing it had already been served. From Atty. Lozanos letters-petitions, we discern
that his suspension had already impressed upon him the need for care and
caution in his representations as an officer of this Court.
Under these circumstances, this Court
decides to grant Atty. Lozanos letters-petitions with the expectation that he shall
now avoid going to the extreme of employing contortions of and misusing legal
provisions and principles to justify his positions, and instead focus his
energies and talents towards a lawyers primary aim of promoting the speedy and
efficient administration of justice.
WHEREFORE, premises
considered, we hereby LIFT the indefinite suspension from the practice of law
of Atty. Oliver Lozano and REINSTATE him to the status of a member in good
standing in so far as the suspension imposed him by this Court is concerned.
SO ORDERED.
RENATO
C. CORONA
Chief Justice
ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice
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PRESBITERO
J. VELASCO, JR. Associate Justice |
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TERESITA
J. LEONARDO-DE CASTRO Associate Justice
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ARTURO D.
BRION Associate Justice
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DIOSDADO
M. PERALTA Associate Justice |
LUCAS P.
BERSAMIN Associate Justice |
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(On Leave) MARIANO C.
Associate Justice
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ROBERTO A.
ABAD Associate Justice
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MARTIN S.
VILLARAMA, JR. Associate Justice |
JOSE Associate Justice |
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JOSE
CATRAL Associate Justice |
MARIA Associate Justice |
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BIENVENIDO
L. REYES Associate Justice |
ESTELA M.
PERLAS-BERNABE Associate Justice |
* On leave.
[1] Letters-Petitions of Oliver Lozano, addressed to the Supreme Court En Banc, dated February 20, 2012, December 2, 2011, September 27, 2011, June 27, 2011 and May 30, 2011.
[2] A criminal complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman, entitled Oliver Lozano et al. v. Hilario Davide Jr., et al., OMB-C-C-09-0527, against Retired Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide and Retired Justice Alicia Austria-Martinez; and the Complaint for Impeachment filed before the House of Representatives, entitled Lawyers League of the Philippines v. Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, dated September 8, 2009.