The Supreme Court, in a decision released last 19 February, disbarred a lawyer for abandoning his legal wife and child, and flaunting his cohabitation and extramarital affair to the public.

In its decision on Administrative Case 13674, the SC reminded all lawyers that they should be honorable at all times. It said that if they cannot follow the law in their private lives, lawyers cannot be expected to do the same in their professional dealings.

Published on the SC website, sc.judiciary.gov.ph., the SC ruling said the respondent showed scandalous and highly immoral conduct while violating the fundamentals of ethics expected to be obeyed by members of the legal profession.

The SC imposed the penalty of disbarment as it cited provisions of Section 33 in relation to Section 37, Canon VI of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability.

Records showed that the respondent lawyer, “Ariel,” and his wife, complainant “Gelie,” were married in 2002 and had a child shortly after.

In 2016, Gelie filed the disbarment complaint against Ariel before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Commission on Bar Discipline, averring that he left their house and cohabited with a third party, alias “Cecilia.”

In her complaint, Gelie said she tried everything to patch things up with Ariel, but he still persisted in leaving her and their child.

Gelie learned that Ariel and Cecilia got married on 20 February 2015, despite the existence of his marriage to her.

The police, whose help Gelie sought, found the lawyer and Cecilia living together in Bulacan. Cecilia had assumed Ariel’s surname in her social media accounts and posts.