EN
BANC
IN RE:
SUSPENSION
OF MARIANO JESUS CUENCO, ATTORNEY.chanrobles virtual law library
August
6, 1920
D
E C I S I
O N
AVANCEÑA,
J :
This
is a proceeding relating
to the suspension of lawyer Mariano J. Cuenco from the practice of his
profession. It is remitted to this Court from the Court of First
Instance
of the Province of Leyte for Our final resolution. On June 23 of this
year,
while the Honorable Nicolas Capistrano was acting as vacation judge at
Tacloban, Leyte, he issued an Order in which, after specifying certain
charges against Mr. Cuenco for acts executed by the latter in relation
to certain cases and for his conduct towards the Court, he was
ordered
to appear in the Court of First Instance at Borongan, Samar, at 8
o'clock
a. m. on the 28th of said month to show cause, if any, why he should
not
be punished for contempt. On the same day in execution of this order,
the
following preceedings were taken by the clerk of that court; a summons
was sent to Mr. Cuenco in order that he might within forty days appear
in Court at Borongan, Samar, to answer the charge; another summons was
sent to Mr. Cuenco in order that he might appear at Borongan, Samar, on
the 28th of that month of June; a telegram was sent to the sheriff of
the
Province of Cebu in order to compel Mr. Cuenco to appear on the same
date
before the vacation judge, the Honorable Nicolas Capistrano at
Borongan,
Samar, in order that he might show cause why he should not be purnished
for contempt. It was also stated in the telegram that the papers
dealing
with the matter have been sent by mail. About the 25th or 26th of that
month of June, Mr. Cuenco was notified by the Sheriff of Cebu of the
telegram
which he has received from the clerk of the court of Leyte and in the
afternoon
of the 28th Mr. Cuenco received the summons mentioned.
In the morning of the
same date, the 28th, the Honorable Nicolas Capistrano, at that time
holding
session at Borongan, Samar, called for trial, the case for contempt
against
Mr. Cuenco and the latter not having appeared, the Court entered an
order
suspending him from the practice of his profession, from the date of
the
notification of the order until the final disposition of the case by
the
Supreme Court. It was also ordered that the original records of the
proceedings
should be sent to this Court.
Upon receipt of the
papers in the office of the clerk of this Court, they were endorsed to
the office of the Attorney-General for investigation and report and the
Attorney-General, after taking the declaration of Mr. Cuenco, submitted
on the 29th of the month of July his report, recommending that the
order
against Mr. Cuenco suspending him from the practice of his profession
be
vacated, that the record be returned to the Court of First Instance of
Leyte with the instruction that Mr. Cuenco should be given the
opportunity
to defend himself against the charges presented against him for
contempt
and that he also be given the same opportunity to defend himself in all
the proceedings that may be taken against him for his suspension from
the
practice of the legal profession.
Although on the 26th
day of June, when Mr. Cuenco received the telegraphic order directed to
the sheriff of Cebu, he was notified that the papers were to be sent to
him by mail and notwithstanding the fact that he had not received them,
nevertheless he tried to obey the order and looked for a boat in order
to go to Borongan, but because of the lack of regular trips from Cebu
to
that port, he did not find any vessel which could take him there on
time
to appear on the day his appearance was required. But laying aside the
fact that Mr. Cuenco had no opportunity to appear at Borongan on
account
of the lack of transportation facilities since the 26th of June, and
even
ignoring the fact that when he received the papers relating to the
order
for his appearance it was already late as the period fixed therefor had
already expired, it appears that he was never notified that his
suspension
from the practice of his profession was to be taken up by the Honorable
Judge Nicolas Capistrano. The notification that was made to him to
appear
at Borongan and show cause why he could not be sentenced for contempt
cannot
be considered as a notification to show cause why he should not be
suspended
from the practice of his profession. These things are different they
have
distinct objects and for each of them a different procedure is
established.
A lawyer cannot be suspended from the practice of his profession
without
giving him an opportunity to defend himself and be heard after
reasonable
notice to him. [Section 25 of the Code of Civil Procedure].
We do not think it
proper to make any pronouncement with respect to the case for contempt.
It appears that the papers were remitted to this Court for the
suspension
of Mr. Cuenco from the practice of his profession. There is a procedure
established for transmitting to this Court the resolutions of the
Courts
of First Instance relating to contempt and this procedure has not been
followed in this case.
In conformity with
the recommendation of the Attorney-General, We vacate the order of
suspension
from the practice of his profession entered against the lawyer Mr.
Mariano
J. Cuenco. Let the records together with the accompanying documents be
returned to the Court of First Instance of Leyte in order that, if
there
are reasons for ordering the suspension of Mr. Mariano J. Cuenco from
the
practice of his profession, the procedure prescribed by law may be
followed,
that Mr. Cuenco be notified of the charges against him, and that he be
given the opportunity to defend himself in said proceedings. So ordered.
Mapa, C.J.,
Johnson, Carson, Araullo, Malcolm, Moir and Villamor, JJ.,
concur. |