Harry Roque urges SC to cite AFP chief, 2 officers in contempt

Lawyer Harry Roque. RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—University of the Philippines Law Professor Harry Roque on Monday asked the Supreme Court to cite Armed Forces Chief General Gregorio Pio Catapang and two other ranking military officials in contempt for violating the confidentiality rule on disbarment proceedings.

The two ranking AFP officials are Brigadier General Arthur Ang and Lieutenant Colonel Harold Cabunoc, AFP Public Affairs Office Chief.

The three, according to Roque’s petition, “evidently conspired with one another to publicly attack and malign petitioner’s (Roque) personal and professional standing through the filing of a disbarment proceeding and publicizing the same.”

“Respondents, by repeatedly making pronouncements in public about Petitioner’s alleged transgressions of professional ethics, and by publicizing their filing of a disbarment suit against him already put to question his professional and personal reputation…They had no other purpose in doing so than to malign him, his person, and his professional standing as a lawyer,” Roque said.

Roque pointed out that publicizing the threats to file a disbarment suit and the actual filing violates the confidentiality rule covering disbarment proceedings as stated in Section 18, Rule 139-B of the Rules of Court.

Sec. 18 of the Rules of Court provides that “proceedings against attorneys shall be private and confidential. However, the final order of the Supreme Court shall be published like its decisions in other cases.”

The AFP filed the disbarment complaint with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines against Roque after he, his client, the relatives of slain transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude and German Marc Sueselbeck marched  to the gate of the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board inside Camp Aguinaldo where suspect US Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton was detained.

However, sources said the military’s complaint against Roque was returned by the IBP to the AFP.

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