Case Digest: De Castro vs Capulong, AM NO. 2739- CFI, November 2, 1982

                         New Code of Judicial Conduct, Propriety |     Legal Ethics


Facts:

An administrative complaint was filed by Teresita de Castro against Hon. Ignacio Capulong, Presiding Judge of the Court of First Instance of Pampanga, for serious misconduct and illegal practice of law. 

Basilio and Iluminosa de Castro owned six parcels of land mortgaged to Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) which later foreclosed. Basilio de Castro offered to repurchase the properties from DBP. DBP approved the offer, requiring a down payment and balance payable within five years.

Basilio de Castro executed a "Deed of Waiver of Rights" waiving his rights to repurchase the property in favor of the Villena spouses. Villenas made an additional deposit to repurchase the properties, but complainant Teresita de Castro discovered the transaction and sought to revoke the assignment of rights. Complainant alleged that the respondent judge intervened in favor of the Villenas, surprising her as he was her father's former lawyer.

(Basilio and Iluminosa de Castro owned mortgaged six parcels of lands foreclosed by DBP. Basilio offered to repurchase the properties. DBP approved the offer, requiring a down payment and balance. Basilio executed a "Deed of Waiver of Rights" in favor of the Villenas. Villenas made an additional deposit, but Teresita sought to revoke the assignment. Complainant alleged the respondent judge intervened for the Villenas.)

Investigator concluded that the charge of serious misconduct was not established based on admissions and testimonies. The investigator also exculpated the respondent judge from the charge of engaging in private practice of law, as he did not act as counsel for any party involved. The Villena spouses had their own lawyer, Atty. Ciriaco Lapuz, who prepared and notarized the relevant documents.

The respondent judge acted as a witness to the signing of the documents, and no evidence of receiving material consideration was presented. The Villena spouses were townmates and friends of the respondent judge and the de Castros, and the respondent judge used to be the lawyer of the de Castros, not the Villenas.

Issue:

WoN the respondent judge is administratively liable. NO.


Held:

We agree with the Investigator that the proven actuations of the respondent Judge in connection with the transaction in question do not warrant a categorical or definite finding that he has committed serious misconduct or engaged in the private practice of law, His intervention in the subject transaction had nothing to do with his official position as a Judge of the Court of First Instance. The controversy between the de Castros and the Villena spouses is not the subject of any court action or proceeding in the court of the respondent Judge, nor in any other court for that matter. The alleged misrepresentation and undue pressure that he exerted on complainant's father have not been substantiated and, on the contrary, have been belied by preponderant evidence presented before the Investigator. The initial reluctance of Basilio de Castro to cede in favor of the Villena spouses his right to redeem his foreclosed properties from the DBP, induced no doubt by his natural desire to regain ownership of the properties which he had acquired through the years, was dissipated by an apparent realization that he did not have the financial capacity to effectuate the repurchase and by is decision to receive a substantial amount from the Villena spouses in consideration of the cessation of his rights to redeem. It was in the process of advising Basilio de Castro of the consequences and implications of the suggested arrangement with the Villena spouses as regards the reacquisition of the foreclosed properties that the respondent Judge came into prominent exposure. His intervention therein may not be considered as constituting private practice of law, he not having acted as counsel for any of the parties involved therein; nor did he receive any material benefit in consideration thereof; nor was it shown that he engaged himself in the exercise of the law profession in any other transaction or litigation after he had joined the judiciary.


Ruling:

WHEREFORE, the complaint against respondent Judge Ignacio Capulong should be, as it is hereby, DISMISSED.

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