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RE: LETTER DATED 21 FEBRUARY 2005 OF ATTY. NOEL S. SORREDA.

This case has been cited 5 times or more.

	AC. No. 10179 2014-03-04	BENJAMIN Q. ONG v. ATTY. WILLIAM F. DELOS SANTOS BERSAMIN, J.
Every lawyer is an officer of the Court. He has the duty and responsibility to maintain his good moral character. In this regard, good moral character is not only a condition precedent relating to his admission into the practice of law, but is a continuing imposition in order for him to maintain his membership in the Philippine Bar.[10] The Court unwaveringly demands of him to remain a competent, honorable, and reliable individual in whom the public may repose confidence.[11] Any gross misconduct that puts his moral character in serious doubt renders him unfit to continue in the practice of law.[12]
	GR No. 174759 2011-09-07	DENIS B. HABAWEL v. CTA BERSAMIN, J.
The sanction has usually been set depending on whether the offensive language is viewed as contempt of court or as ethical misconduct. In Re: Letter Dated 21 February 2005 of Atty. Noel S. Sorreda,[47] the errant lawyer who made baseless accusations of manipulation in his letters and compliance to this Court was indefinitely suspended from the practice of law. Although he was further declared guilty of contempt of court, the Court prescribed no separate penalty on him, notwithstanding that he evinced no remorse and did not apologize for his actions that resulted from cases that were decided against his clients for valid reasons. In Re: Conviction of Judge Adoracion G. Angeles,[48] the complaining State Prosecutor, despite his strong statements to support his position not being considered as direct contempt of court, was warned to be more circumspect in language. In contrast, Judge Angeles was reprimanded and handed a stern warning for the disrespectful language she used in her pleadings filed in this Court, which declared such language to be below the standard expected of a judicial officer. In Nuñez v. Atty. Arturo B. Astorga,[49] Atty. Astorga was meted a P2,000.00 fine for conduct unbecoming of a lawyer for hurling insulting language against the opposing counsel. Obviously, the language was dealt with administratively, not as contempt of court. In Ng v. Atty. Benjamin C. Alar,[50] the Court prescribed a higher fine of P5,000.00 coupled with a stern warning against Atty. Alar who, in his motion for reconsideration and to inhibit, cast insults and diatribes against the NLRC First Division and its members. Yet again, the fine was a disciplinary sanction.
	AC. No. 7399 2009-08-25	ANTERO J. POBRE v. SEN. MIRIAM DEFENSOR-SANTIAGO VELASCO JR., J.
In Re: Letter Dated 21 February 2005 of Atty. Noel S. Sorreda,[10] we reiterated our pronouncement in Rheem of the Philippines v. Ferrer[11] that the duty of attorneys to the courts can only be maintained by rendering no service involving any disrespect to the judicial office which they are bound to uphold. The Court wrote in Rheem of the Philippines: x x x As explicit is the first canon of legal ethics which pronounces that "[i]t is the duty of a lawyer to maintain towards the Courts a respectful attitude, not for the sake of the temporary incumbent of the judicial office, but for the maintenance of its supreme importance." That same canon, as a corollary, makes it peculiarly incumbent upon lawyers to support the courts against "unjust criticism and clamor." And more. The attorney's oath solemnly binds him to a conduct that should be "with all good fidelity x x x to the courts."
	GR NO. 152072 2007-07-12	ROMEO G. ROXAS v. ANTONIO DE ZUZUARREGUI PER CURIAM
To prevent liability from attaching on account of his letter, he invokes his rights to free speech and privacy of communication. The invocation of these rights will not, however, free him from liability. As already stated, his letter contained defamatory statements that impaired public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary. The making of contemptuous statements directed against the Court is not an exercise of free speech; rather, it is an abuse of such right. Unwarranted attacks on the dignity of the courts cannot be disguised as free speech, for the exercise of said right cannot be used to impair the independence and efficiency of courts or public respect therefor and confidence therein.[25] Free expression must not be used as a vehicle to satisfy one's irrational obsession to demean, ridicule, degrade and even destroy this Court and its magistrates.[26]
	GR NO. 170720 2006-11-30	ATTY. ERNESTO P. TABAO v. JUDGE EUSTAQUIO GACOTT CALLEJO. SR., J.
A pleading containing derogatory, offensive or malicious statements when submitted before a court or judge in which the proceedings are pending is direct contempt because it is equivalent to a misbehavior committed in the presence of so near a court or judge as to interrupt the administration of justice.[23] Unfounded accusations or allegations, or words tending to embarrass the court or to bring it into disrepute have no place in a pleading. Their employment serves no useful purpose. On the contrary, they constitute direct contempt of court or contempt in facie curiae and a violation of the lawyer's oath and a transgression of the Code of Professional Responsibility.[24]