Supreme Court Disbarred a Lawyer for Claiming He Can Bribe CA Justices
The Supreme Court has disbarred a lawyer who was allegedly claiming that he can bribe Court of Appeals (CA) justices.
The Supreme Court barred a lawyer who represented a client who said he could afford to bribe CA justices to reverse a drug conviction. Atty. William F. Delos Santos was disbarred on Tuesday, February 21, in a full court ruling written by Associate Justice Japar B. Dimaampao.
The case against Delos Santos was submitted by Norma F. Flores after her son was convicted of selling and maintaining illegal drugs by the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC), according to the SC’s public information office (PIO). Norma and her son approached Delos Santos for legal assistance.
According to the report, the lawyer charged them P20,000 as an acceptance fee and P5,000 for court document compilation. According to the PIO, Delos Santos allegedly persuaded Norma to release an extra payment of $160,000 in 2015, which he claimed would be used to ‘bribe’ the Justices of the CA’s Fifteenth Division, where the son’s case is pending.
According to the lawyer’s instructions, Norma put the aforementioned sum in the Banco De Oro Savings Account in the name of Delos Santos’ wife. After Delos Santos received the money, he told Norma that it would be sent to his insider or ‘facilitator’ within the CA’s Fifteenth Division.
“To Norma’s dismay, the Fifteenth Division of the CA affirmed her son’s conviction. She immediately called Delos Santos, who claimed ‘he did not know what happened’ since he had made ‘the necessary’ arrangement with the Justices including his facilitator inside the Court of Appeals,'” said the PIO of the SC.
Delos Santos promised Norma that he would return the money, but he did not, and the lady was forced to submit a complaint for its disbarment. The Supreme Court (SC) requested a reply from Delos Santos, but he did not respond, causing the case to be transferred to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) for inquiry, report, and recommendation.
Delos Santos also failed to attend the required mandatory conference despite being notified, therefore the IBP Investigative Commissioner held him guilty for gross misconduct and recommended that he be disbarred. In addition, the Court ordered Delos Santos to refund Norma’s money, totaling P160,000, plus 6% interest per year.
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