Case Digest: SERVILLANO BATAC, JR., et al. v. ATTY. PONCIANO V. CRUZ, JR.

SERVILLANO BATAC, JR., et al. v. ATTY. PONCIANO V. CRUZ, JR.

538 SCRA 135 (2004)

The Court merely calls upon a member of the Bar to account for his actuations as an officer of the Court with the end in view of preserving the purity of the legal profession and the proper and honest administration of justice.

Servillano Batac, Jr. and Antonio Bonoan are petitioners in a case pending before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) where they seek to respondent Atty. Ponciano V. Cruz, Jr. as an adverse party witness and requested the issuance of subpoena ad testificandum/duces tecum upon him.

The SEC Hearing Panel issued subpoenas ad testificandum to Atty. Cruz for several hearings but the latter failed to appear in all the scheduled hearings. Thus, Batac charged Cruz and his counsel Atty. Eric Paul I. Fetalino with several counts of indirect contempt before the SEC.

ISSUE:

Whether or not Atty. Cruz is guilty of indirect contempt for his failure to attend the several scheduled hearings

HELD:

Not only by disobedience to SEC’s orders did Atty. Cruz violate his oath as a lawyer. He likewise committed dishonesty concerning his excuses for his failure to attend two hearings.

Atty. Cruz fully knew that several hearings had been postponed due to his unavailability, and they were reset on dates to adjust to his availability. The least he could have done was, as correctly pointed out by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), to take steps to cooperate and accommodate in his schedule the hearings set by the hearing panel.

He cannot deny the importance of his would-be testimony as shown by the continuous request of the petitioners in the SEC case for his appearance. It was thus very inconsiderate, to say the least, on his part not to have taken time off from what he wanted to convey to be a hectic schedule. His last minute motions and manifestations that he be excused from the scheduled hearings confirm his indifference to the orders of the SEC hearing panel.