G.R. No. L-18799, April 7, 1922
In Re: Marcelino Lontok

FACTS

Marcelino Lontok, a lawyer, was convicted of the crime of bigamy. The Attorney-General filed a petition for his disbarment under Section 21 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which allows removal or suspension of a lawyer by reason of conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude. Lontok opposed the petition, relying on a pardon granted to him by Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison. The pardon remitted his sentence on the condition that he would not again be guilty of any misconduct.

ISSUE

Whether the pardon granted to Marcelino Lontok bars his disbarment based solely on his conviction for bigamy, a crime involving moral turpitude.

RULING

Yes, the pardon bars the disbarment proceeding. The Court, following the U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Ex parte Garland, held that a full pardon reaches both the punishment and the guilt of the offender; it blots out the offense as if it had never been committed and restores the offender’s civil rights. Since the disbarment proceeding was based solely on the fact of conviction, and not on an independent inquiry into the underlying misconduct constituting moral turpitude, the pardon effectively removed the conviction as a ground for disbarment. The Court distinguished cases where disbarment is based on the professional misconduct itself, which may proceed despite a pardon. Here, the proceeding was statutory and dependent on the conviction. The petition for disbarment was dismissed.