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CHIEF Justice Reynato Puno asked the lawyers in the
country, through the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), to
stop corrupting justices and judges and from buying temporary
restraining orders (TROs) that are “for sale.”
Puno made the statement with
Atty. Jose Salazar, IBP national president, during their meeting
with the Judicial Reform Program.
Salazar said that Puno asked the
lawyers’ hierarchy to cease from giving “bribes” to the
members of the judiciary.
The Chief Justice is worried
about the growing practice of “buy and sell” of cases in the
judiciary which forced him to summon the Court of Appeals justices
and the officials of the lawyers’ league.
Salazar said that Puno is
pointing out that corruption is a two-way traffic, for there would
be no acceptor if there were no bribe-giver. This would be
translated into the crime of direct or indirect bribery of the
magistrate and corruption of public officials on the part of the
lawyer.
“It takes two to tango in
committing corruption. It is true that there are no corrupt judges
if there are no corrupt lawyers,” Salazar said.
There is the Code of Ethics (Code
of Professional Responsibility) for lawyers that would discipline
them in case they were proven to have engaged in corrupt practices.
Puno has just summoned the 17
chairpersons (most senior members) of the appellate court stationed
in Manila and expressed his alarm with the notoriety of some
justices and employees of the appellate court.
Punois more concerned right now
with the appellate coourt, being his former court before becoming a
Supreme Court Justice, than any other courts due to the complaints
he is receiving that corruption is now rampant in the appellate
court.
Lawyer’s style
Several lawyers in the country
are engaged in corrupting judges or justices in order to win a case.
A former justice secretary who
talked to The Manila Times on condition of anonymity, said that the
usual procedure in order to win a case pending before the courts,
even in the prosecutor’s level is to broker first.
The words “budget” and
“mobilization fees” were normally used in law practice.
“A lawyer would normally go to
your office, especially if you have known each other already and
will say ‘may budget yan.’ Kahit ayaw mo hindi mo naman
maipahiya dahil kakilala mo,” the former secretary said.
They would at times go to the
chambers of magistrates or asked for a middleman.
Remedies of the bar
Salazar told The Times the
accusations of corruption is a “perception,” whether it is true
or not it needs to be proven by evidence.
The remedy seen to cure this
issue is to report the corrupt lawyers and file the necessary
disbarment case.
As to prevention, Salazar said
the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) would be there not
just to abreast them with the latest rulings and procedures of law,
but also to entail the Legal Ethics in the exercise of their
profession.
He said that the lawyers’
practice of giving “budget” and “mobilization fees” could
exist but have not yet been proven.
Salazar argued that small-time
law offices that wanted to establish a name could be behind the use
of so-called “Matrix,” but not the big law offices.
He cited that his former law
office, the ACCRA law office (Angara Concepcion Regala Abello law
office) is now tolerating the fixing practice since it is already
established.
“The Sycip Salazar law office
will immediately stop from entertaining you, if the client himself
would suggest to bribe a judge or a justice,” he said.
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Jomar Canlas
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