Misconduct/Grave Abuse of Authority

To warrant dismissal from service, misconduct must be grave, serious, important, weighty, momentous, and not trifling. The misconduct must imply wrongful intention and not a mere error of judgment and must also have a direct relation to and be connected with the performance of the public officer's official duties amounting either to maladministration or willful, intentional neglect, or failure to discharge the duties of the office. In order to differentiate grave misconduct from simple misconduct, the elements of corruption, clear intent to violate the law, or flagrant disregard to established rule, must be manifest in the former. These acts are inimical to judicial service and constitute conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service as they violate the norm of public accountability and diminish or tend to diminish the peoples faith in the Judiciary. 

Code of Professional Responsibility

The Lawyer's Oath is a source of obligations and duties for every lawyer, and any violation thereof by an attorney constitutes a ground for disbarment, suspension or other disciplinary action. The Lawyer's Oath is a sacred trust that must be upheld and keep inviolable.

Lawyers are licensed officers of the courts empowered to appear, prosecute and defend the legal causes for their clients. As a consequence, peculiar duties, responsibilities and liabilities are devolved upon them by law. Neither vindictiveness nor harassment could be a substitute for resorting to the appropriate legal remedies. The aim of every lawsuit should be to render justice to the parties according to law, not to harass them. A lawyer shall observe and maintain the respect due to the courts and to the judicial officers and should insist on similar conduct by others; A lawyer shall not attribute to a judge motives not supported by the record or have no materiality to the case. Being an officer of the court, a lawyer must resist the whims and caprices of his clients and temper his client's propensities to litigate, so must he equally guard himself against his own impulses of initiating unfounded suits (A.C. 7474, September 09, 2014).

Judicial Errors

"A trial judge is not accountable for performing his judicial functions and office because such performance is a matter of public duty and responsibility. The judge's office and duty to render and administer justice, being functions of sovereignty, should not be taken for granted. No administrative charge for manifest partiality, gross misconduct and gross ignorance of the law should be brought against him for the orders issued in the course of judicial proceedings." - Justice Bersamin

It is settled that a judge's failure to interpret the law or to properly appreciate the evidence presented does not necessarily render him administratively liable. Only judicial errors tainted with fraud, dishonesty, gross ignorance, bad faith, or deliberate intent to do an injustice will be administratively sanctioned. To hold otherwise would be to render judicial office untenable, for no one called upon to try the facts or interpret the law in the process of administering justice can be infallible in his judgment.

If a party is prejudiced by the order of a judge, his remedy lies with the proper court for appropriate judicial action and not with the Office of the Court Administrator by means of an administrative complaint.

Charges against members of the bar

A complainant in a disbarment case is not a direct party to the case, but a witness who brings the matter to the attention of the Court. It is basic that there is neither a plaintiff nor a prosecutor in disciplinary proceedings against lawyers. The real question for determination in disbarment proceeding is whether or not the attorney is still a fit person to be allowed the privileges of a member of the bar. 

An affidavit of withdrawal of the disbarment case does not in any way exonerate the respondent-lawyer. A case may proceed regardless of interest or lack of interest of the complainant. The person who called the attention of the Court to the attorney's alleged misconduct is in no sense a party and has generally no interest in the outcome. Hence, the lawyer may be suspended or disbarred despite the desistance of the complainant or withdrawal of the charge.

Respect for the rule of law is at all times demanded from members of the bar. The primary duty of lawyers is not to their client but to the administration of justice. Zeal and persistence in advancing a client's cause must always be within the bounds of the law.

Employee of the Judiciary

It must be stressed that every employee of the Judiciary should be an example of integrity, uprightness and honesty. As public servant, an employee of the judiciary must exhibit the highest sense of honesty and integrity not only in the performance of his/her official duties but also in his/her personal and private dealings with other people, to preserve the Court's good name and standing. The image of a court of justice is mirrored in the conduct, official and otherwise, of the personnel who work thereat, from the judge to the lowest of its personnel. Court personnel have been enjoined to adhere to the exacting standards of morality and decency in their professional and private conduct in order to preserve the good name and integrity of the courts of justice.