Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dantes vs. Dantes
Dantes vs. Dantes
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A.C. No. 6486. September 22, 2004.
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* EN BANC.
583
PER CURIAM:
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586
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quarrels because of respondent’s extra-marital affairs. Sometime in
1983, she brought their children to her mother in Pampanga to
enable her to work because respondent had failed to provide
adequate support. From 1986 to 2001, complainant worked abroad
as a domestic helper.
Denying that there was a mutual agreement between her and
respondent to live separately, complainant asseverated that she was
just compelled to work abroad to support their children. When she
returned to the Philippines, she learned that respondent was living
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with another woman. Respondent, then bluntly told her, that he did
not want to live with her anymore and that he preferred his
mistresses.
Complainant presented documentary evidence consisting of12 the
birth certificates of Ray Darwin, Darling, and Christian Dave, all
surnamed Dantes, and the affidavits of respondent and his
13
paramour to prove the fact that respondent sired three illegitimate
children out of his illicit affairs with two different women. Letters of
complainant’s legitimate children likewise support the allegation
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that respondent is a womanizer.
In an Order dated April 17, 2002, respondent was deemed to
have waived his right to cross-examine complainant, after he failed
to appear during the scheduled hearings despite due notice. He,
however, submitted his Comment/Opposition to the Complainant’s
Formal Offer of Evidence with 15Motion to Exclude the Evidence from
the Records of the Proceedings on August 1, 2002.
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16 Id., at p. 139.
17 Id., at pp. 145-156.
18 Civil Case No. Q-01-45222.
19 Presided by Judge Rosalina L. Luna Pison of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court,
Branch 107, National Capital Judicial Region, Rollo, pp. 157-158.
20 Rollo, pp. 198-201.
21 Id., at p. 197.
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“Canon 7—A lawyer shall at all times uphold the integrity and dignity of
the legal profession, and support the activities of the Integrated Bar.”
“Rule 7.03—A lawyer shall not engage in conduct that adversely reflects
on his fitness to practice law, nor should he, whether in public or private life,
behave in a scandalous manner to the discredit of the legal profession.”
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22 BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY, 6th ed., p. 751 citing In re: Monaghan, 126
VT, 53m 222 A 2d 665, 674.
23 Reyes vs. Wong, A.C. No. 547, January 29, 1975, 63 SCRA 667.
24 Royong vs. Oblena, A.C. No. 376, April 30, 1963, 7 SCRA 859, 869.
25 A.C. No. 1512, January 29, 1993, 218 SCRA 30.
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only master its tenets and principles but should also, in their lives,
accord continuing fidelity to them. The requirement of good moral
character is of much greater import, as far as the general public is
concerned, than the possession of legal learning.
It should be noted that the requirement of good moral character
has three ostensible purposes, namely: (i) to protect the public; (ii) to
protect the public image of lawyers; and (iii) to protect prospective
clients. A writer added a fourth: to protect errant lawyers from
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themselves.
Lawyers are expected to abide by the tenets of morality, not only
upon admission to the Bar but also throughout their legal career, in
order to maintain
27
their good standing in this exclusive and honored
fraternity. They may be suspended from the practice of law or
disbarred for any misconduct, even if it pertains to his private
activities, as long as it shows him to
28
be wanting in moral character,
honesty, probity or good demeanor.
Undoubtedly, respondent’s acts of engaging in illicit relationships
with two different women during the subsistence of his marriage to
the complainant constitutes grossly immoral conduct warranting the
imposition of appropriate sanctions. Complainant’s testimony, taken
in conjunction with the documentary evidence, sufficiently
established respondent’s commission of marital infidelity and
immorality. Evidently, respondent had breached the high and
exacting moral standards set for members of the law profession. He
has made a
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26 Elliston, F.A. The Ethics of Ethics Tests for Lawyers, published in The Bar
Examiner, vol. 51, no. 3 (August 1982) 8:16.
27 Cordon vs. Balicanta, A.C. No. 2797, October 4, 2002, 390 SCRA 299.
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28 Rural Bank of Silay, Inc. vs. Pilla, A.C. No. 3637, January 24, 2001, 350 SCRA
138; Saburnido vs. Madroño, A.C. No. 4497, September 26, 2001, 366 SCRA 1.
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29 Pangan vs. Ramos, Adm. Case No. 1053, August 31, 1981, 107 SCRA 1.
30 Adm. Case No. 266, April 27, 1963, 7 SCRA 757.
31 Adm. Case No. 1392, April 2, 1984, 128 SCRA 485.
32 November 29, 1989, 179 SCRA 680
33 Tapucar vs. Tapucar, A.C. No. 4148, July 30, 1998, 293 SCRA 331.
34 Resurreccion vs. Sayson, A.C. No. 1037, December 14, 1998, 300 SCRA 129.
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