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[ G.R. No. 104931. January 17, 2000]
SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION vs. NLRC, et al.
FIRST DIVISION
Gentlemen:
Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated JAN 17 2000.
G.R. No. 104931 (San Miguel Corporation vs. NLRC, et al.)
On 15 January 2000 the wife of Atty. Avenescio A. Piramide went to see the Chief Justice at his residence in Cebu City and informed him that Agent Linley G. Gabo of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Cebu City, arrested Atty. Piramide and detained him at the Regional Office of the NBI on the basis of the order of arrest and commitment signed by the Clerk of Court of this Division pursuant to the Resolution of 28 June 1999. She also presented to the Chief Justice the COMPLIANCE of Atty. Piramide dated 14 January 2000, together with an affidavit of private respondent who was allegedly suffering from a heart ailment and needed hospitalization.
The chief Justice reported that, for humanitarian reasons, he authorized the Regional Director of the NBI to allow hospitalization of Atty. Piramide, provided however, that the latter should be under guard by an agent of the NBI duly appointed by the Regional Director.
The Chief Justice requested the Division Clerk of Court to include the COMPLIANCE of Atty. Piramide in the calendar of the Division for today.
Acting on the COMPLIANCE of Atty. Piramide, the Court resolved to NOTE and CONSIDER it as unsatisfactory despite the related explanation of private respondent. In the first place, the compliance required of Atty. Piramide is not the filing of a comment. In the second place, his refusal to comply with the previous resolutions, which resulted in the issuance of the warrant of arrest, indisputably demonstrated Atty. Piramide's cavalier attitude and disrespect toward the Court. The Resolution of 28 June 1999 speaks for itself, thus:
Despite his receipt on 12 March 1999 of the Resolution of 17 February
1999, Atty. Avenescio Piramide, counsel for private respondent, has failed to
pay the fine of P3,000.00 and file the explanation and proof of service
as required in the resolution of 17 March 1997. It must be pointed out that the
submission of the proof of service was required in the resolution of 17 July
1995.
This is not the first time Atty. Piramide has deliberately ignored or defied the resolutions of this Court in this case.
In the resolution of 16 September 1992 he was directed to show cause why no disciplinary action should be taken against him for failure to file the required comment. He did not comply with the resolution, thus in its resolution of 29 March 1992, the Court required Atty. Piramide to pay a fine of P500 payable to the Court within five days from notice, or to suffer imprisonment of five (5) days in case he failed to pay it, and to file the required comment within ten days from notice. Atty. Piramide neither paid the fine nor filed the comment. So, in its resolution of 30 August 1993, the Court ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to arrest Atty. Piramide and to commit him at the NBI Jail in Cebu City for five days. It also directed him to submit his comment within ten days from notice.
The order for the arrest of Atty. Piramide was issued on 30 August 1993, yet the NBI did not make a return thereof, compelling the Division Clerk of Court to write on 22 November 1993 to the Director of the NBI to inquire on the matter.
. . .
. In the meantime, however, and on 26 June 1995, Atty. Piramide filed his twin motions to cancel his name as counsel for private respondent and to lift the disciplinary action imposed on him.
In the resolution of 17 July 1995 the Court required Atty. Piramide to furnish private respondent with a copy of his twin motions and to submit proof of such service. Again, Atty. Piramide did not comply with the resolution.
In the resolution of 22 November 1995, the Court directed him to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for his failure to comply with the resolution of 17 July 1995 and to comply with that resolution within a non-extendible period of ten days.
Once again, Atty. Piramide ignored the resolution. Thus, on 21 August 1996, the Court imposed upon him a fine of P1,000.00 payable within ten days, or for him to suffer imprisonment of ten days if he would not pay it, and directed him to comply with the resolution of 22 November 1995 within ten days. But, Atty. Piramide chose to ignore the resolution. Hence in the resolution of 18 November 1996 the Court issued a warrant for his arrest, to be served by the NBI of Cebu City, which shall detain him for ten days, and ordered Atty. Piramide to comply with the resolution of 21 August 1996, within ten days, and he will remain in detention until he so complies.
In a pleading entitled Compliance Together with a Motion to Lift
Warrant received by the Court on 21 February 1997, Atty. Piramide narrated how
temporary and fleeting was his service to private respondent; and that even if
he were to prapare a comment, he would still be incapable of doing so because
he does not have the record of the case. He, nevertheless, paid the fine of P1,000.00.
The above pleading was the subject of the resolution of 17 March 1997, which required him to submit to the court within a non-extendible period of five days from notice his proof of service of his time Motions as required in the resolution of 17 July 1995. In the meantime, action on his Compliance with a Motion to Lift Warrant was deferred until after he shall have submitted the required proof of service.
As shown above, Atty. Piramide did not comply with the resolution of 17 March 1997, hence the show-cause resolution of 16 July 1997, which he likewise ignored, prompting the Court to issue its resolution of 17 February 1999.
In light of the foregoing, and for his failure to comply with the Resolution of 17 February 1999, let a warrant of arrest be issued for the arrest of Atty. Avenescio Piramide, to be served by the National Bureau of Investigation., Regional Office in Cebu City, which shall detain Atty. Piramide at its detention cell for five (5) days. Atty. Piramide is further directed to COMPLY with the resolution requiring him to submit the proof or service aforementioned within five (5) days from notice hereof, and he shall remain in detention until he shall have so complied with it.
The Regional Director of the NBI in Cebu City is directed to enforce the warrant of arrest and to make a return thereon within fifteen (15) days from notice hereof.
By virtue thereof, the Division Clerk of Court, upon authority of the Chairman of the Division, issued on 28 June 1999 a warrant of arrest and commitment, commanding the Director of the NBI and the Regional Director of the NBI of Cebu City to
ARREST Atty. Avenescio Piramide at the latter's last known address at S-301 43 F. Cabahug St., Barangay Kasambangan, Cebu City, and to COMMIT him to your detention cell where he shall be detained and safely kept for five (5) days and shall remain in your custody until he shall have complied with the resolution requiring him to submit the proof of service aforementioned, unless obtained further for some lawful cause and to SUBMIT a report of compliance therewith within ten (10) days from notice hereof.
In a 1st Indorsement dated 11 November 1999, NBI Agent Linley Gabo informed the Court that the warrant of arrest against Atty. Piramide could not be served, as the latter could not be located at his known address in No. 43 F. Cabahug St., Villa Aurora, Mabolo, Cebu City, and at his office in P. del Rosario St., Cebu City; and that discreet inquiry disclosed that he left Cebu and is now in Maasin, Leyte.
Acting on the Indorsement, the Court in its resolution of 13 December 1999 required NBI Agent Linley Gabo to (1) submit a detailed account of how he effected attempts to arrest Atty. Piramide; and (2) effect the arrest of Atty. Piramide within thirty (30) days from notice.
Atty. Piramide did not disclaim receipt of copies of the resolutions of this Court. Yet, he deliberately refused to comply with the Resolutions of 17 February 1999. Atty. Piramide, as an officer of the Court, was bound to comply with the resolution under his lawyer's oath and under Canon 11 of the Code of Professional Responsibility. Hence, if he felt humiliated by reason of the arrest, he should blame himself, not the Court.
Nevertheless, since private respondent Carlos Reyes has executed an affidavit that he was informed by Atty. Piramide that the latter's name should not appear in the records of this case - an affidavit which Atty. Piramide could have produced a long time ago for his compliance with the resolution requiring him to submit proof of service - the matter of the submission of the proof of service has been rendered moot and academic.
Since the purpose of the resolution of 28 June 1999 has been partly served, the Court Resolved to direct the Regional Director of the NBI, Cebu City, Region VII, to RELEASE from detention Atty. Avenescio Piramide.
The Court further Resolved to REQUIRE (1) Agent Linley G. Gabo to submit within five (5) days from notice hereof his detailed account of how he effected attempts to arrest Atty. Piramide, as required in the Resolution of 13 December 1999; and (2) Atty. Piramide to submit within the same period a sworn medical certificate issued by the physician who attended to him during his hospitalization and a verified clinical record of such confinement.
Finally, the Court Resolved to REFER this case to the Court of Appeals pursuant to the decision in St. Martin Funeral Homes vs. NLRC (295 SCRA 494 [1998]).
Very truly yours,
(Sgd.) VIRGINIA ANCHETA-SORIANO
Clerk of Court
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