G.R. No. A.C. No. 10781, April 12, 2016
Cobalt Resources, Inc., Complainant, vs. Atty. Ronald Aguado, Respondent.

FACTS

Complainant Cobalt Resources, Inc. (CRI) filed an administrative complaint for disbarment against respondent Atty. Ronald C. Aguado before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) for alleged violations of the Code of Professional Responsibility and the lawyer’s oath. CRI alleged that on March 5, 2010, armed men pretending to be agents of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) hijacked its delivery van carrying cellular phones worth P1.3 million. Using a GPS tracker, the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation Detection Unit (PNP-CIDU) located the stolen phones in front of Pegasus Bar in Quezon City, where they found three vehicles, including a Toyota Fortuner owned by Atty. Aguado. Inside the Fortuner, police recovered the stolen phones, a falsified PASG Identification Card (ID) identifying Atty. Aguado as a PASG Legal Consultant, and a falsified PASG Mission Order naming him as Assistant Team Leader for the operation. The PASG later certified both documents as fake. CRI further alleged, based on a sworn statement by an arrested individual, Anthony Palmes, that Atty. Aguado masterminded the hijacking by preparing the fake documents and recruiting the armed men. Separate criminal Informations for Robbery and Carnapping were filed against Atty. Aguado and others.
During the IBP proceedings, Atty. Aguado denied the allegations, claiming his Toyota Fortuner was carnapped on the day of the incident and that he was implicated only because the falsified ID was found inside it. He failed to submit an Answer despite extensions. In a mandatory conference, his counsel admitted that the falsified ID and Mission Order were found inside Atty. Aguado’s vehicle. The IBP-Commission on Bar Discipline (CBD) found Atty. Aguado liable for unlawful, dishonest, immoral, and deceitful conduct for falsifying the ID and Mission Order and recommended a two-year suspension, deferring the issue of his direct involvement in the hijacking as a judicial matter. The IBP Board of Governors adopted this recommendation. Both parties filed motions for reconsideration: CRI sought disbarment, while Atty. Aguado sought dismissal, arguing that related criminal charges for usurpation of authority and falsification had been dismissed by the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office. The IBP Board denied both motions. CRI then filed a petition for review with the Supreme Court, seeking disbarment.

ISSUE

Whether respondent Atty. Ronald Aguado should be disbarred for professional misconduct, specifically for falsifying a PASG ID and Mission Order and for his alleged involvement in the hijacking of CRI’s delivery van.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted CRI’s petition and disbarred Atty. Ronald Aguado. The Court emphasized that disbarment proceedings are administrative and independent of criminal cases, requiring only preponderant evidence, not proof beyond reasonable doubt. It found that preponderant evidence established Atty. Aguado’s possession and use of the falsified PASG ID and Mission Order, as admitted by his counsel during the IBP mandatory conference. The Court rejected Atty. Aguado’s defense of carnapping, noting the lack of evidence to support it and the improbability that carnappers would leave falsified documents identifying him in the vehicle. The falsification of public documents to simulate official authority constituted grossly immoral, dishonest, and deceitful conduct, violating the lawyer’s oath and Rules 1.01 and 1.02 of the Code of Professional Responsibility, which prohibit unlawful, dishonest, immoral, or deceitful acts.
Regarding the hijacking, while the IBP-CBD deferred to the criminal courts, the Supreme Court considered the sworn statement of Anthony Palmes and the circumstances—including the recovery of the stolen phones in Atty. Aguado’s vehicle and the fake documents authorizing the seizure—as corroborative evidence of his involvement. The Court held that using his legal profession to facilitate such a serious crime aggravated his misconduct. Given the gravity of the offenses, which undermined public confidence in the legal profession, the Court found the two-year suspension recommended by the IBP insufficient. Applying precedents where lawyers were disbarred for similar fraudulent and criminal conduct, the Court imposed the ultimate penalty of disbarment. Atty. Ronald C. Aguado’s name was ordered stricken from the Roll of Attorneys, and he was perpetually disqualified from reinstatement.