SC exec chides UP lawyers for 'Del Castillo resign' calls

Can lawyers criticize Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo in public and call for his resignation, amid allegations that he plagiarized a Supreme Court ruling? They should not, SC administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said on Tuesday as he reminded University of the Philippines College of Law professors that lawyers must observe ethics. At a news briefing, Marquez cited rule 13.02 of the Code of Professional Responsiblity, which says that "a lawyer shall not make public statements in the media regarding a pending case tending to arouse public opinion for or against a party." Last Monday, UP Law professors urged Del Castillo to resign for supposedly breaching the court's "high standards of moral conduct" when he allegedly lifted entire portions from other works into his ruling that denied the plea of comfort women, sexual slavery victims during World War II. (See: Resignation of SC justice in plagiarism issue sought) “In light of the extremely serious and far-reaching nature of the dishonesty and to save the honor and dignity of the [Supreme Court] as an institution, it is necessary for the ponente of Vinuya v. Executive Secretary to resign his position, without prejudice to any other sanctions that the court may consider appropriate," they said. The controversial April 28, 2010 decision said the SC has no power to compel the Philippine governement to have Tokyo apologize to, and provide compensation for the women, most of them octogenarians already. The ruling is curently on appeal before the court. Thus, the case remains pending. The SC's Committee on Ethics and Ethical Standards' investigation on the alleged plagiarism is also ongoing. Ateneo defends alumnus In a related development, the Ateneo Law School also rushed to the side of Del Castillo, an alumnus, and said the UP Law professors' statements were uncalled for. The magistrate received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Ateneo in 1976. "Any call or demand for the resignation of Mr. Justice del Castillo at this time when the committee has just began its work is not fair, and prejudges the case against a Justice of the Republic even before he has been given the constitutional right to defend himself," said Ateneo School of Law dean Cesar Villanueva in a statement on Tuesday. —Sophie Dedace/JV, GMANews.TV