SC grants Cebu lawyer’s bid to be delisted from ‘corrupt’ profession

CEBU CITY–The Supreme Court (SC) has granted the request of a Cebuano lawyer to strip him of his title and functions to protest the alleged corruption in the profession, particularly in the prosecution service and the judiciary.

“Please take notice that the court en banc issued a resolution dated January 31, 2017. The court resolved to grant the Petition for Voluntary Delisting in the Roll of Attorneys filed by the petitioner,” said the High Court’s Clerk of Court Felipa Anama in a Notice.

Lawyer Dionisio Cañete was elated upon receiving the Notice last Wednesday.

“I have no regrets whatsoever. I am happy that I am now out of the profession so that I will not be in the same association with corrupt prosecutors and judges,” he said.

Cañete, 78, expressed dismay over the “unspeakable injustices” he suffered while practicing the profession for 56 years.

He said he was extremely disappointed when nine of the 10 cases he filed before the prosecutors’ office from 2014 to 2016 were “maliciously dismissed” despite having presented strong evidence.

Three of the nine dismissed cases were overturned by the Regional State Prosecutor.

When he returned to the prosecutors’ office, Cañete said the case folders of these cases could no longer be found.

The actions of prosecutors and judges, he said, convinced him that the criminal justice system in the Philippines is “like a spider’s web, wherein only the mosquitoes and flies are caught, but the wealthy and government officials simply go through it.”

“With all those cruel and brutal injustices heaped on me, I feel that being a lawyer does not anymore deserve respect and courtesy from his own brothers in the legal profession; that there is no more logical and cogent reason for me to remain as a lawyer,” he added.

Cañete said he’s hoping that his voluntary resignation from the Roll of Attorneys would lead to a meaningful reform and reorientation in the prosecution service and the judiciary” in order to minimize corruption.

He said lawyers are very much aware of the ongoing corruption in the prosecution service and the judiciary but have been silent or indifferent toward it.

Cañete cited an example wherein a lawyer loses a case because the opposing party had all the money to “buy” the prosecutor or the judge.

“Filing the petition was based on my disillusion, frustration, utter disappointment as well as humiliation and embarrassment inflicted by the highly unfair and brutally unjust actions of my brothers in the legal profession who are members of the prosecution and judiciary…” he said.

Cañete passed the Bar Examinations in 1960 and was a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) the next year.

In 1981, he was elected vice president of the IBP Cebu Province Chapter. The following year, he assumed the presidency when the elected president resigned and ran for an elective post.

In 1983, Cañete ran and was elected IBP President Cebu Province Chapter—a position he held until 1985.

At present, he is the chairman-emeritus of the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation. CDG