SC disbars lawyer over Facebook post

MANILA — The Supreme Court (SC) has disbarred lawyer Berteni Causing, spokesperson of the Mabasa family, for posting a draft plunder complaint against some government officials on Facebook in 2019.

In a 10-page decision dated October 4, 2022, but released only on Wednesday, February 1, 11 magistrates unanimously voted to disbar Causing while four justices were on official business.

The draft plunder complaint Causing posted accused some government officials of corruption, but the high court said it wrongly named a certain Jackiya Lao as chair of the bids and awards committee of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 12.

He accused Lao and other respondents of allegedly stealing P226 million in public funds intended for Maranao evacuees during the 2017 Marawi siege.

In her disbarment complaint against Causing, Lao claimed she was subjected to “public hate, contempt and ridicule” because of the lawyer’s Facebook post, which besmirched her “good name and reputation.”

The high court sided with Lao.

“Atty. Causing’s posting of the complaint for plunder on his Facebook account was motivated by the desire to damage the reputation of the respondents therein. In fact, it was posted precisely to elicit negative reactions, comments and public opinions against Lao and her fellow respondents,” it ruled.

The SC chastised Causing, reminding him that as a lawyer, he ought to know that Facebook or social media is not the proper forum to air out his grievances.

The proper forum, it said, was to file the complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman.

The high court added, Causing failed to conduct himself as a lawyer in a way that would keep the integrity of the legal profession intact and violated the Code of Professional Responsibility and the Lawyer’s Oath.

Meanwhile, SC rejected Causing’s defense of freedom of expression, saying it may not be used to “broadcast lies or halftruths, insult others, destroy their name or reputation or bring them into disrepute.”

An investigating commissioner of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) recommended a six-month suspension, which the IBP Board of Governors reduced to a reprimand because the complaint was ultimately filed.

But SC disbarred the former newspaper editor because his prior suspension supposedly did not serve as a deterrent.

Causing had earlier been suspended for one year for posting on Facebook a confidential petition filed by an opposing party in a case before a family court.

He claimed he was doing it as a“spokesman lawyer” and a“journalist blogger .”

But SC said a lawyer cannot divide his personality as “an attorney at one time and a mere citizen at another.”

SC concluded that based on his previous suspension and the current disbarment case, Causing “has the propensity to divulge sensitive information on online platforms, such as Facebook, to the detriment of the people involved in the said cases.”

Causing confirmed his disbarment to ABS-CBN

News.

In a statement, he lamented his disbarment, saying this effectively acquitted the persons he accused of plunder before the Ombudsman.

“Nagsampa ng plunder noong January 2019 sa Office of the Ombudsman si Engineer Causing, na hanggang ngayon ay nakatulog pa rin. Kinakampihan ban gating SC ang nakawan kaysa mga mainit na salita laban sa mga katiwalian — na may ebidensya naman?” he asked.

Causing pointed out that he managed to secure the same food intended for displaced Maranaos in Marawi at P318, which the DSWD bought for P515.50.

He cited a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism report as the basis for his complaint and insisted Lao was really part of the plunder complaint he filed.

He reiterated his right to free expression, insisting he spoke out against corruption.

Causing also said the high court should not have considered him a repeat offender because at the time he posted the plunder complaint on Facebook in 2019, he had not yet been warned by SC not to repeat a similar post, which came only in March 2021 during his suspension.

He added his disbarment will affect the assistance he provides to the Mabasa family as they seek justice for slain broadcaster Percy Lapid.

It also means, he said, that he won’t be able to support his 87-year-old mother and 83-year-old father.

Causing said he will move for reconsideration of the ruling.