The Supreme Court (SC) has disbarred a lawyer for deliberate failure to pay debts and for issuing bounced or worthless checks as payment.

In a press briefer, the SC’s public information office (PIO) identified the lawyer as Cipriano D. Robielos III who was found guilty of gross misconduct.

The PIO said that Robielos obtained a P240,000 loan from Adrian M. Kelley. Robielos issued a check as payment but the check was dishonored by the bank for insufficient funds.

Despite demand, the PIO said that Robielos failed to settle the loan prompting Kelley to seek the help of the officials of the barangay (village) in Barangay 33 in Caloocan City.

Both Robielos and Kelly entered into an agreement that the loan would be paid in six-month installments.  The PIO said Robielos paid Kelley only P60,000 and paid to settle the subsequent installments. 
Kelley filed a small claims case before the Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) but Robielos failed to answer the complaint. The MeTC ruled against Robielos who was ordered to pay P180,000 with six percent interest annually until fully paid.

Robielos opposed the execution of the trial court’s order as he claimed that the check he issued was merely to “return a favor” and not intended to be encashed as payment for a debt.

Kelley filed an administrative complaint before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). Again, Robielos failed to answer the complaint.  The IBP recommended that Robielos be suspended from the practice of law for two years.  The IBP Board of Governors increased the suspension to five years.

In affirming with modification the penalty imposed by the IBP, the PIO said the SC “cited Canon II, Section 1 of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA), which expressly prohibits lawyers from engaging in unlawful, dishonest, immoral, or deceitful conduct”

It said the SC “lamented that not only is deceitful conduct unacceptable, disgraceful, and dishonorable to the legal profession, it is also revealing of a basic moral flaw that makes one unfit to practice law.”

It also said the SC cited its 2015 ruling which “categorically pronounced that a lawyer’s act of issuing worthless checks, punishable under Batas Pambansa Blg. 22, constitutes serious misconduct penalized by suspension from the practice of law for one (1) year, for which no conviction of the criminal charge is even necessary.”

“In the case of Atty. Robielos, the Court found that he did not even dispute that he issued a check in the amount of P240,000 and that such check was eventually dishonored by the drawee bank. Instead, Atty. Robielos gave a flimsy excuse that he issued the check to ‘repay a favor’ and that he was not actually indebted to Kelley,” the PIO said.

It also said the SC “found Atty. Robielos liable for violating Canon III, Section 2 of the CPRA requiring lawyers to promote respect for legal processes when he abjectly failed to comply with the directives of the IBP Committee on Bar Discipline (IBP-CBD) to file his position papers and to attend the required mandatory conference.”

On determining the appropriate penalty for Robielos, the PIO said the SC “held that under the CPRA, a lawyer may be disbarred for being guilty of a serious offense, such as gross misconduct.”

It said the SC also pointed out that “Robielos had already been previously sanctioned twice for unprofessional conduct: (1) he was suspended for three months for failing to comply with the lawful orders of the IBP; and (2) he was suspended for five years for issuing ten worthless checks as payment for a loan of P594,185.”
“As Atty. Robielos has repeatedly engaged in a vicious cycle of borrowing money and later on refusing to pay his debts each time, the Court found that he has demonstrated an abject lack of remorse and disrespect to the legal processes, and made a mockery of the judicial system and processes by continuing to evade the writ of execution issued on him,” the PIO said quoting from the decision.

“Thus, the Court found it proper to impose the ultimate penalty of disbarment on Atty. Robielos for his propensity to issue worthless checks to pay his debts. He was likewise fined P35,000 for his brazen disregard of the lawful orders and processes of the IBP-CBD,” is also said.