A.C. No. 5182 - SUSANA DE GUZMAN BUADO AND NENA LISING, COMPLAINANTS, VS. ATTY. EUFRACIO T. LAYAG.RESOLUTION - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, two cases for estafa, docketed as Criminal Cases Nos. C-58087 and C-58088 were filed with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Caloocan City, Branch 124. [4] In our Resolution of January 31, 2000, we directed that Atty. Layag be furnished a copy of the complaint for his comment. In his Comment dated April 11, 2000, Atty. Layag denied committing any malpractice, saying that he merely complied with the wishes of his client, the late Rosita de Guzman, to deliver any money judgment in Civil Case No. C-14265 before the RTC of Caloocan City, Branch 121, to her attorney-in-fact, one Marie Paz P. Gonzales. Respondent prayed that the complaint be dismissed for want of merit. Thereafter, this Court resolved on July 10, 2000 to refer the matter to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) for investigation, report, and recommendation. [5] As culled from the report and recommendation [6] dated September 25, 2003 of the IBP Investigating Commissioner, Atty. Milagros V. San Juan, the facts in this case are as follows: Herein complainant Lising and her sister, Rosita de Guzman (mother of herein complainant Susana de Guzman Buado), were the plaintiffs in Civil Case No. C-14265, entitled Rosita de Guzman, et al., v. Inland Trailways, Inc. , which was decided by the RTC of Caloocan City, Branch 121, in favor of the plaintiffs on May 16, 1991. Both Lising and de Guzman were represented in said case by herein respondent, Atty. Layag. The losing party, Inland Trailways, Inc., appealed the trial courts judgment to the Court of Appeals, said appeal being docketed as CA-G.R. CV No. 34012. In its decision dated January 5, 1995, the appellate court affirmed the judgment of the trial court. However, on July 3, 1993, or while CA-G.R. CV No. 34012 was pending before the appellate court, de Guzman died. Pursuant to the judgment against it, Inland Trailways, Inc., issued the following checks: (1) Traders Royal Bank Check No. 0000790549 dated February 15, 1996 for P15,000 payable to Atty. Layag; (2) Traders Royal Bank Check No. 0000790548 dated March 8, 1996 in the amount of P30,180 payable to Lising; and (3) Traders Royal Bank Check No. 0000790547 dated March 8, 1996 for the sum of P49,000 payable to de Guzman who had by then already passed away. The aforementioned checks were received by respondent lawyer from Pablo Gernale, Jr., the deputy sheriff of the RTC in February 1996. Atty. Layag did not inform Lising and the heirs of de Guzman about the checks. Instead he gave the checks to one Marie Paz Gonzales for encashment on the strength of a Special Power of Attorney, purportedly executed by de Guzman constituting Gonzales as her attorney-in-fact. The Special Power of Attorney supposedly authorized Gonzales, among others, to encash, indorse, and/or deposit any check or bill of exchange received in settlement of Civil Case No. C-14265. It was only in February 1998 that Lising and de Guzman Buado, while checking the status of Civil Case No. C-14265, found that judg