The Supreme Court has rejected the request of the Public Attorney’s Office to delete the conflict of interest clause in the new code of conduct for lawyers. | T2TupasINQ
It also says that: “A conflict of interest of any of the lawyers of the Public Attorney’s Office incident to services rendered for the Office shall be imputed only to the said lawyer and the lawyer’s direct supervisor. Such conflict of interest shall not disqualify the rest of the lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office from representing the affected client upon full disclosure to the latter and written informed consent.
For PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta, the clause would result in a conflict of interest because public defenders would be representing both parties of a case. But the SC reminded the PAO of its primordial mandate which is to extend free legal assistance to indigent people in criminal, civil, labor, administrative, and other quasi-judicial cases.
The SC at the same time ordered Acosta to explain why she should not be cited in indirect contempt for issuing “unfounded grievances” against the high court “as a threat to the independence of the judiciary.”“The Court characterized Atty. Acosta resorted to social and print media to air her unfounded grievances against the Court as a threat to the independence of the judiciary. The Court thus ordered Atty. Acosta to show cause why she should not be disciplined as a Member of the Bar,” it said.
Sought for comment, Acosta said: “We will be waiting for the official copy of the Supreme Court resolution first.”Subscribe to our daily newsletter
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