SC orders lawyer disbarred for abandoning family

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MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ordered the disbarment of a lawyer who left his family for another woman.

In a 10-page decision promulgated on Aug. 1, 2023, but made public only on Feb. 19, the high court found Vincenzo Nonato Taggueg guilty of gross immorality in violation of Sections 1 and 2, Canon II and Canon VI of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability, effectively banning him from practicing law.

According to the high tribunal, the evidence presented by the complainant, Taggueg’s legal wife, “establish[ed] a pattern of conduct that is grossly immoral — one which is not only corrupt or unprincipled, but reprehensible to a high degree.”

In 2002, Taggueg married his wife, who gave birth to their child. In March 2015, the wife said she went to his office to discuss personal concerns, but he “got mad, went home to their residence to pack his things, and left without any explanation.”

A few months later, she asked for help from a friend in locating her husband, only to find out that he had married another woman in February 2015, just before he left her.

Four years after she sought his disbarment, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Board of Governors slapped Taggueg with a penalty of indefinite suspension and a P20,000 fine.

But the high court cited his “highly reproachable conduct,” saying that lawyers were expected always to be honorable and reliable.

“This must be so because any lawyer who cannot abide by the laws in his private life cannot be expected to do so in his professional dealings,” it added.