The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Atty. Persida Rueda-Acosta to explain why she should not be disciplined for issuing PAO Office Order No. 096, Series of 2023 (Office Order), which the SC finds “disrespectful.”
In an en banc resolution dated July 25, 2023, the SC unanimously voted to require the PAO chief to show cause why she should not be administratively dealt with for issuing PAO Office the said Office Order, in response to the Resolution, dated July 11, 2023, of the Court, directing the PAO head to strictly comply with Canon III, Section 22 of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA).
Acosta’s Office Order gave Public Attorneys the “discretion and disposition” to comply with Canon III, Section 22 of the CPRA and advised the Public Attorneys to reconcile the said provision with Article 209 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes betrayal of trust and revelation of secrets by lawyers, to avoid any criminal responsibility and imprisonment.
The Office Order also urged the Public Attorneys to adopt precautionary measures in handling conflict-of-interest cases “to protect their life and limb” and avoid criminal and administrative liability.
The SC magistrates found Acosta’s Office Order as “an insinuation that compliance with the CPRA will amount to the commission of such offenses.”
“The Court deemed the foregoing instructions in Atty. Acosta’s Office Order as belligerent and disrespectful as she effectively accused the Court of directly exposing the Public Attorneys not only to criminal and administrative liability, but also physical danger,” the SC said, in a statement released by its Public Information Office.
It can be recalled that in the July 11, 2023 Resolution of the Court, the high court already directed Acosta to show cause why she should not be cited in indirect contempt and disciplined as a member of the bar for her unabated public tirades against Canon III, Section 22 of the CPRA.
“The Office Order is viewed by the Court as a further act of disobedience and obstruction which degrades the administration of justice,” the SC bewailed.
The Supreme Court PIO will upload a copy of the Resolution to the Supreme Court website once it receives the same from the Office of the Clerk of Court En Banc.
