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THE Supreme Court (SC) was asked Monday to disbar Congressman Harry Roque for allegedly spreading lies and malicious allegations against his fellow Kabayan Partylist representative, Ron Salo.
Salo filed before the High Court a disbarment complaint against Roque for his acts that allegedly violated the lawyers' Code of Professional Responsibility.
According to Salo, Roque had made "vicious" and "slanderous" remarks against him to allegedly discredit him from the members of Kabayan Partylist.
Aside from Roque, also slapped with disbarment case are lawyers Joel Butuan, Roque's law partner who published Roque's allegations in his own column, and Rommel Bagares, Roque's Chief of Staff from whom Roque allegedly obtained the "false information."
In his complaint-affidavit, Salo detailed several instances wherein Roque uttered malicious allegations and lies against him, among them was his supposed hand in the entry of illegal drugs in the national penitentiary.
Salo was a preacher and former chairman of the Bureau of Corrections' (Bucor) Love Foundation.
Salo stressed that Roque, as a UP Law professor, is expected to act with decency and probity.
He added that Roque should also be knowledgable in all the legal implications of his utterances.
"Evidently, Atty. Roque's expertise is to weave lies, twist facts, sow intrigues, insinuate illegality, and ultimately destroy a person's reputation— certainly the attributed of a morally debased person and certainly not befitting an officer of the court. Indeed, the lies that Atty. Roque has concocted and has spread are just too many and deplorable that any moment longer of his stay in the bar is not just a disgrace, but an insult, to the men and women who strive to live according to the tenets of their oath as lawyers," Salo said.
Roque became a partylist representative after Salo acceded from his pleas to become a Kabayan partylist nominee. Roque is also Salo's godfather in the wedding.
Aside from the disbarment raps, Roque is also being probed by the Kabayan Partylist itself for his alleged "dishonorable behavior" during one of the House hearings into the illegal drug trade in the state penitentiary.
In a House hearing on November 24, Roque pried into the love affair between Senator Leila de Lima and her former driver-bodyguard Ronnie Dayan and asked questions like: "Kailan kayo nag-climax?" among other others.
Kabayan spiritual adviser Pastor Cesar Pabuayon in previous interviews said Roque's questions at the probe showed that the lawmaker acted outside the aim of Kabayan to represent marginalized sectors. (SunStar Philippines)
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