Gadon faces second disbarment complaint

Lawyer Lorenzo Gadon is facing another disbarment complaint, this time for initiating a ‘baseless’ impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and for filing suits against court officials who have testified in favor of her.

In his 10-page complaint submitted before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) headquarters in Ortigas, lawyer Wilfredo Garrido Jr. had accused Gadon of exhibiting patterns of bad behavior—dishonesty, arrogance and rudeness—in the course of the impeachment hearings in the House Committee on Justice.

Garrido added that Gadon’s impeachment case is baseless and that the suits he had filed against court officials who testified against Sereno are “harassment suits.”

“He (Gadon) has destroyed careers and reputations. He has demeaned his profession. He must be disbarred,” Garrido said.

“What is even more striking is that he did not mind if he had personal knowledge of the facts alleged in his complaints, or that he had adequate legal bases for the same,” Garrido pointed out.

Complainant pointed out that Gadon perjured himself several times and that he knowingly executed a false verification in his complaint stating he had personal knowledge of his allegations against Sereno.

“Apart from lying, Atty. Gadon is also skilled in harassing and haranguing his own colleagues in public,” Garrido said noting that last Feb. 22, Gadon publicly tried to force Sereno to resign by dangling threats of supposed criminal cases to be filed against Supreme Court officials. Gadon made true his promise when he filed graft charges against them before the Department of Justice on March 12, after Sereno rejected calls for her to step down.

“Atty. Gadon’s conduct should be judged regardless of the outcome of the impeachment complaint against CJ Sereno or the cases he has filed or threatened to file against other court employees. By and of itself, his conduct is disgraceful and a black-eye on the profession,” Garrido stressed.

This is the second disbarment complaint filed against Gadon.          /muf