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Cases 21-40 Digest Garcy Kate D. Go LLB - 1 PAFLU, Entila and Tenazas v. Binalbagan Isabela Sugar Co., Court of Industrial Relations and Quentin Muning Facts: Petitioners PAFLU, Entila and Tenazas were complainants in Case No. 72-ULPIloilo in the Court of Industrial Relations. The complainants were represented by Cipriano Cid & Associates thru Atty. ANastacio Pacis and Quentin Muning, a non-layer. After trial, the court rendered a decision in favour of the complainants; a portion of that order granted respondent Quentin Muning, a non-laywer attorneys fees for professional service. Thus a petition was filed seeking review of the order made by the Court of Industrial Relations in Case No. 72-ULP-Iloilo. Issue: May a non-lawyer recover attorneys fees for legal services rendered? Holding: Order under review is set aside. Ratio: Lawyer-client relationship is only possible if one is a lawyer. Since respondent Muning is not one, he cannot establish an attorney-client relationship with Enrique Entila and Victorino Tenezas or with PAFLU and he cannot therefore, recover attorneys fees. Public policy demands that legal work in representation of party litigants should be entrusted only to those possessing tested qualifications for the protection of the courts, clients and the public. The permission of a non-lawyer to represent a party litigant in court does not by itself entitle the representation to compensation. For Section 24 Rule 138, of the Rules of Court provides: Sec. 24. Compensation of Attorneys Agreement as to Fees An attorney shall be entitled to have and recover from his client no more than a reasonable compensation for his services, imports the existence of an attorney-client relationship as a condition for recovery of attorneys fees.
a. We find the charges against Judge Abaya and Annabelle Cardenas to be supported by substantial evidence. Especially damaging to the pretensions of the respondents that Annabelle Cardenas rendered service as stenographic reporter during the period under consideration are the school records of the Holy Trinity College, showing the Cardenas was attending school in the first semester of school year 1983-1984. Equally damaging to respondents assertions are the Daily Time Records of Princess Tours showing that Annabelle Cardenas acted as tourist guide on 43 working days when she was supposedly rendering services as stenographic reporter. b. Judge Abaya denied the solicitation as well as the receipt of money from Mrs. Fuertes. He surmised that Mrs. Fuertes and Nelly Vicente had been pressured by Atty. Gonzales-Austria into testifying against him out of sheer vindictiveness and that Mrs. Fuertes might have been blaming him for the delay in the resolution of the criminal case against her sons alleged killers. The Court finds no improper motive as to why Mrs. Fuertes, a school teacher, would impute such a serious offense against a judge unless it be the truth. Upon the other hand, the testimony of Mrs. Fuertes is too rich in details brought out on cross-examination which cannot simply be swept aside as mere fabrications. c. While the investigating officer, Justice Herrera observed that both Servando and Jamora testified in a natural and straightforward, albeit in an angry manner without attempting to conceal their contempt for Judge Abaya, he concluded that the evidence in this regard would be unable to withstand judicial scrutiny for want of ample corroboration. It would simply be the word of one against a judge. In summation, we find Judge Emmanuel M. Abaya guilty of grave and serious misconduct affecting his integrity and moral character which would have warranted his dismissal from the service had his resignation not been accepted. By these acts, Judge Abaya has demonstrated his unfitness and unworthiness of the honor and perquisites attached to his office. II. A.M No. R-698-P and Adm. Case No. 2909
Atty. Austria justifies her action under the theory of agency that having been granted full authority to promulgate the probation order, she necessarily had the authority to sign University of San Carlos School of Law and Governance