The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered a six-month suspension as a lawyer of former press secretary and presidential spokesperson Rose Beatrix “Trixie” Cruz-Angeles.
Angeles and her co-respondent, lawyer Ahmed Paglinawan, were found guilty of violation of Rule 8.01 Canon 8 of the Code of Professional Responsibility, now Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA), the lawyers’ code of conduct in the practice of their profession.
Rule 8.01 of CPR states that “a lawyer shall not, in his professional dealings, use language which is abusive, offensive or otherwise improper.”
Paglinawan was merely reprimanded by the SC. However, he and Angeles were warned that repetition of the same violation would be dealt with more severely.
The complaint was filed in 2016 by lawyer Roderick Manzano who accused Angeles and Paglinawan of using “grossly abusive, offensive, and improper” language in a pleading filed in an unlawful detainer case before the Quezon City metropolitan trial court.
Manzano sought the disbarment of Angeles and Paglinawan.
In a resolution, the SC said: “After an examination of the records of the case, the Court finds no cogent reason to depart from the findings and recommendations of the IBP Board of Governors, as explained in the IBP-CBD’s extended resolution.”
It pointed out that both Angeles and Paglinawan “never disputed that they made the subject statements.”
It stressed that the intemperate language used by Angeles and Paglinawan cannot be considered as pertinent to the unlawful detainer case and were made for the purpose of “insulting, dishonoring and humiliating” the complainants in the case.
