Supreme Court suspended a lawyer for insulting Vicki Belo on Facebook.
A lawyer was found guilty of violation of Code of Responsibility and was suspended for a year for insulting celebrity surgeon Dr. Vicki Belo in his Facebook account.
Lawyer Roberto “Argee” Guevarra caught the attention of the netizens on social media.
Guevarra was reported suspended for writing malicious remarks and undermining the reputation of Dr. Victoria “Vicki” Belo-Henares and the Belo Medical Group, Inc.
In a recent news report of Phil Star, SC First Division found that the Guevarra was guilty of violating Rules 7.03, 8.01, and 19.01 of the Code of Professional Responsibility.
Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe penned the 13-page suspension order that was promulgated on Dec. 1, 2016.
In his Facebook account, Guevarra wrote, among others, that Belo “will go down in Medical History as a QUACK DOCTOR!!! QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK” and called her “Reyna ng Kaplastikan,” “Reyna ng Payola,” and “Reyna ng Kapalpakan.”
In another post, the lawyer said he was “out to get Puwetic Justice here!” and that he was thinking “how the payola machinery of vicki belo killed the news of a picket demonstration in front of the Belo clinic.”
Because of this, Belo took Guevarra to the high court over his series of post on the social media.
The post reportedly in a relation to the criminal case filed by his client, Josefina Norcio, against the doctor.
Guevarra represented his client who filed a criminal case against Belo for allegedly mishandled surgical procedure on her buttocks in 2002 and 2005.
Through the ongoing investigation of the case, the Supreme court have found out that the lawyer also attributed criminal negligence upon Belo and BMGI nb accusing them of malpractice and disfiguring his client Norcio.
In his Facebook post, he labeled the clinic as a “Frankenstein Factory” and calling out a boycott of BGMI’s services.
Guevarra’s Facebook post contained verbals abused and insults against the reputation of Victoria “Vicki” Belo-Henares and the Belo Medical Group, Inc, prompting the latter to file an administrative complaint to disbar him.
The Supreme court revealed that Guevarra failed to offer evidence for his claim that Belo violated his privacy when she accessed his account.
“A punctilious scrutiny of the Facebook remarks complained of disclosed that they were ostensibly made with malice tending to insult and tarnish the reputation of complainant and BMGI,” said the court.
Furthermore, the Supreme court rejected Guevarra’s defense that it was just an exercise of his freedom of speech and expression.
