Case Digest (A.C. No. 4921)
Facts:
Carmelita I. Zaguirre v. Atty. Alfredo Castillo, A.C. No. 4921, March 06, 2003, the Supreme Court En Banc, Per Curiam, writing for the Court.Complainant Carmelita I. Zaguirre filed a petition for disbarment against respondent Atty. Alfredo Castillo alleging gross immoral conduct. The parties met in 1996 as officemates at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Respondent courted complainant, allegedly representing himself as single and promising marriage; an intimate relationship ensued in 1996 and lasted into 1997 while respondent was preparing for and later taking the bar examinations.
Respondent passed the bar and was admitted on May 10, 1997. Complainant only learned around the first week of May 1997 that respondent was already married when his wife confronted her at her office. On September 10, 1997 respondent executed a notarized affidavit acknowledging a relationship with complainant, recognizing the then-unborn child as his and undertaking to support the child and sign the birth certificate. Complainant gave birth on December 9, 1997. Thereafter respondent allegedly refused to recognize and support the child.
Respondent denied courtship, claimed the relationship was mutual lust, and asserted that his marital status was known at the NBI; he also contended the child was not his because complainant saw other men, and that he signed the affidavit merely to save complainant from embarrassment. The record includes the September 10, 1997 notarized affidavit and a handwritten March 12, 1998 letter in which respondent offered to support the child with a monthly amount said to be not less than P500 but not more than P1,000.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Commission on Bar Discipline found respondent guilty of gross immoral conduct and rec...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Does the doctrine of in pari delicto bar disciplinary proceedings against a lawyer alleged to have engaged in immoral conduct?
- Did respondent’s admitted extra‑marital relationship, notarized recognition of paternity and later refusal to support the child constitute gross immoral conduct showing unfitness to practice law?
- If guilty, is disbarment required, or i...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)