Membership in the Philippine Bar is a privilege burdened with conditions, including the payment of membership dues.

In its Resolution dated 8 March 2023, the Supreme Court adopted the Revised Integrated Bar of the Philippines By-Laws. Section 23 provides that every member of the Integrated Bar shall pay annual dues of P4,000 for the ensuing fiscal year, among other things. 

Failure to pay the membership dues has its corresponding consequences. 

Failure to pay more than six months from the due date means that a member shall be considered delinquent, whereas failure to pay after another six months for one year means that a member’s name could be stricken off the Roll of Attorneys.

A lawyer was ordered by the Supreme Court to pay his IBP dues and was warned that failure to do so would merit his suspension from the practice of law. Instead of paying his IBP dues, Atty. Cecilio Arevalo Jr. sought an exemption from the payment thereof. He maintained that he could not be assessed IBP dues for the years he was inactive in law practice, such as when working in the Philippine Civil Service and the USA. (Letter of Atty. Cecilio Y. Arevalo Jr. Requesting Exemption From Payment of IBP Dues,” B.M. No. 1370, 9 May 2005) 

Another lawyer was unanimously disbarred by the Supreme Court for his stubborn refusal to pay his IBP dues since his constitution as a member. He argued that he was being compelled, as a pre-condition to maintaining his status as a lawyer in good standing, to be a member of the IBP and to pay the corresponding dues and that as a consequence of this compelled financial support of the IBP, he was being deprived of the rights to liberty and property guaranteed to him by the Constitution. (In the Matter of the IBP Membership Dues Delinquency of Atty. Marcial A. Edillon; IBP Administrative Case No. MDD -1; A.C. No. 1928, 3 August 1978).

Both lawyers were mistaken. 

Bar integration does not compel a lawyer to associate with anyone. One is free to attend or not attend the meetings of their chapter or to vote or refuse to vote in its elections as s/he chooses. The only compulsion to which s/he is subjected is the payment of annual dues. The Supreme Court, to further the State’s legitimate interest in elevating the quality of professional legal services, may require that the cost of improving the profession in this fashion be shared by the subjects and beneficiaries of the regulatory program — the lawyers. 

More importantly, the payment of dues is a necessary consequence of membership in the IBP. There is nothing in the law or rules that allows exemption from payment of membership dues. This simply means that the compulsory nature of the payment of dues subsists for as long as one’s membership in the IBP remains. This is true notwithstanding one’s lack of practice or the type of practice the member is engaged in. 

The practice of law is not a property right but a mere privilege, and as such, lawyers must bow to the Court’s inherent regulatory power to exact compliance with their public responsibilities. Failure to abide by any of them entails the loss of such privilege if the gravity thereof warrants such a drastic move. 

Accordingly, all IBP members, including new lawyers, must pay their membership dues on or before the deadline set by the Integrated Bar.

For more of Dean Nilo Divina’s legal tidbits, please visit www.divinalaw.com. For comments and questions, please send an email to cad@divinalaw.com.