Lawyers can file cases to protect personal rights: SC

FILE: Facade of Supreme Court of the Philippines (PNA photo)

MANILA – Lawyers are free to protect their personal property rights by initiating legal cases against another person, the Supreme Court (SC) said.

In a three-page resolution dated October 5 and made public Thursday, the high court’s Second Division dismissed a complaint for gross misconduct filed against a lawyer by a couple who claimed they had been named in “frivolous suits” by the lawyer to malign them, prompting them to initiate an administrative suit.

It adopted the findings of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) which recommended the dismissal of the administrative complaint where it said the lawyer in question, Michaela Uy Matammu-Sion, was “merely exercising her legal right to protect her interest in the subject property” when she joined other parties in three suits against the spouses, Enrique and Angelica Chua.

The three suits filed against the couple are for oral defamation, forcible entry, and declaration of nullity of contracts.

The cases stemmed from the parties’ rights to a 543-square meter property, a portion of which was purportedly sold by a relative of the lawyer to the Chua couple in 2012.

In clearing the lawyer of misdeeds, the court said it “should not hesitate to shield them (lawyers) from unfounded suits that only serve to disrupt rather promote the orderly administration of justice”.

“This court could not be the instrument that would destroy the reputation of any member of the bench, by pronouncing guilt on mere speculation,” it added.