SC disbars lawyer for Gross Immorality

Atty. Allan C. Contado was found guilty of gross immorality in violation of Rule 1.01 and Rule 7.03 of the Code of Professional Responsibility (CPR) after abandoning his family and cohabiting with another woman whom he had two children with, according to a Supreme Court en banc decision promulgated on October 4, 2021.

According to Rule 1.01 and Rule 7.03, “a lawyer shall not engage in unlawful, dishonest, immoral or deceitful conduct.” This is mirrored in Rule 7.03 of the Code of Professional Responsibility (CPR) which states that “a lawyer shall not engage in conduct that adversely reflects on his fitness to practice law, nor shall he whether in public or private life, behave in scandalous manner to the discredit of the legal profession.”

The court action was instituted by an unnamed complainant with whom Atty. Contado cohabited and had two daughters with. It was alleged by the woman that Atty. Contado presented himself as separated-in-fact from his wife and he was working on the dissolution of his marriage when they met in 2003. Such assurance made her agree on cohabiting with him as husband and wife in 2010 and on having children in 2011 and 2013.

The Supreme Court decision, which was uploaded on its web site only in December, stated that while the complainant was already cohabiting with the lawyer, there were other women with whom he had children.

Their relationship was terminated when Atty. Contado left the complainant and stopped providing financial support to their common children. The complainant also added that the lawyer took her Ford Expedition vehicle.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Commission on Bar Discipline (CBD) found Atty. Contado guilty of immorality as he had children with the complainant despite being married. It was also held that his failure to return the vehicle was unbecoming of a member of the IBP. The IBP Board of Governors increased the penalty to disbarment, which was later sustained by the Supreme Court, saying “The Court finds Atty. Contado guilty of violating the CPR: for his abandonment of his legal wife and family in order to cohabit with another woman; and for failure to return the subject vehicle despite demand. The Court therefore imposes the penalty of disbarment upon respondent.”

It is important to take note that for the imposition of the penalty of disbarment on grounds of immorality, the complaint must not only be immoral, but grossly immoral. Atty. Contado’s abandonment of his spouse to cohabit with another falls under this category as this amounts to concubinage. Atty. Contado’s name was thus stricken off from the Roll of Attorneys.