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    A.C. No. 7088 Atty. Herminio Harry Roque v. Atty. Rizal Balbin (Hatague)

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    Charlene Hatague
    Atty. Harry Roque filed a complaint against Atty. Balbin for unprofessional conduct, alleging that after securing a favorable judgment for his client, Balbin started intimidating, harassing, blackmailing, and threatening Roque into withdrawing the case. The Supreme Court ruled that Balbin violated conduct rules by harassing opposing counsel and suspended him from practice for 2 years, finding his acts demonstrated a misuse of legal processes and lack of respect for a colleague.

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    A.C. No. 7088 Atty. Herminio Harry Roque v. Atty. Rizal Balbin (Hatague)

    Uploaded by

    Charlene Hatague
    1K views2 pages
    Atty. Harry Roque filed a complaint against Atty. Balbin for unprofessional conduct, alleging that after securing a favorable judgment for his client, Balbin started intimidating, harassing, blackmailing, and threatening Roque into withdrawing the case. The Supreme Court ruled that Balbin violated conduct rules by harassing opposing counsel and suspended him from practice for 2 years, finding his acts demonstrated a misuse of legal processes and lack of respect for a colleague.

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    Atty. Harry Roque filed a complaint against Atty. Balbin for unprofessional conduct, alleging that after securing a favorable judgment for his client, Balbin started intimidating, harassing, blackmailing, and threatening Roque into withdrawing the case. The Supreme Court ruled that Balbin violated conduct rules by harassing opposing counsel and suspended him from practice for 2 years, finding his acts demonstrated a misuse of legal processes and lack of respect for a colleague.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    1K views2 pages

    A.C. No. 7088 Atty. Herminio Harry Roque v. Atty. Rizal Balbin (Hatague)

    Uploaded by

    Charlene Hatague
    Atty. Harry Roque filed a complaint against Atty. Balbin for unprofessional conduct, alleging that after securing a favorable judgment for his client, Balbin started intimidating, harassing, blackmailing, and threatening Roque into withdrawing the case. The Supreme Court ruled that Balbin violated conduct rules by harassing opposing counsel and suspended him from practice for 2 years, finding his acts demonstrated a misuse of legal processes and lack of respect for a colleague.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    ATTY. HERMINIO HARRY L. ROQUE, JR. v. ATTY. RIZAL P.

    BALBIN

    A.C. No. 7088 December 04, 2018

    PERLAS-BERNABE, J.:

    Atty. Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr. filed a complaint/affidavit filed against


    respondent Atty. Rizal P. Balbin, praying that the latter be subjected to disciplinary action
    for his alleged unprofessional conduct.

    FACTS:

    Complainant alleged that he was the plaintiff's counsel in a case entitled


    FELMAILEM, Inc. v. Felma Mailem, docketed as Civil Case No. 2004-307 before the
    Metropolitan Trial Court of Parañaque City, Branch 77. Shortly after securing a favorable
    judgment for his client, herein respondent-as counsel for the defendant, and on appeal-
    started intimidating, harassing, blackmailing, and maliciously threatening complainant
    into withdrawing the case filed by his client. According to complainant, respondent would
    make various telephone calls and send text messages and e-mails not just to him, but
    also to his friends and other clients, threatening to file disbarment and/or criminal suits
    against him. Further, and in view of complainant's "high profile" stature, respondent also
    threatened to publicize such suits in order to besmirch and/or destroy complainant's name
    and reputation.

    ISSUE:

    Should the respondent be administratively sanctioned for the acts complained of?

    RULING:

    Yes, the Supreme Court Justice, speaking through Justice Perlas-Bernabe,


    declared that Atty. Balbin is administratively sanctioned for the acts complained of for
    violating Canon 8 of the CPR commands that a lawyer shall conduct himself with courtesy,
    fairness and candor towards his professional colleagues, and shall avoid harassing
    tactics against opposing counsel.

    In this case, Atty. Balbin's acts demonstrated a misuse of the legal processes
    available to him and his client, especially considering that the aim of every lawsuit should
    be to render justice to the parties according to law, not to harass them. More significantly,
    the foregoing showed respondent's lack of respect and despicable behavior towards a
    colleague in the legal profession, and constituted conduct unbecoming of a member
    thereof.

    Therefore, Atty. Balbin is hereby suspended from the practice of law for a period
    of two (2) years.

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