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[G.R. No. 165428.� April 27, 2005]
LAND BANK vs. LUCIANO
SECOND DIVISION
Sirs/Mesdames:
Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated APR 27 2005.
G.R. No. 165428 (Land Bank of the Philippines vs. Teresita Panlilio-Luciano.)
The present petition for review was filed by petitioner Land Bank of the Philippines (Land Bank) assailing the Decision [1] of the Sixteenth Division of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 60263. The case pertains to a dispute between Land Bank and respondent Teresita Panlilio-Luciano as to the basis for just compensation for respondent's properties, which respondent had voluntarily offered for sale to the government pursuant to the voluntary offer scheme under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988. [2] cralaw The petition was filed in behalf of Land Bank by Piczon Beramo and Associates, and signed by Attys. Danilo B. Beramo and Rafael L. Berba�o.
In a Resolution dated 17 January 2005, the Court required Land Bank to submit to this Court proof of compliance with the conditions precedent for the bank's representation by private counsel, in accordance with the ruling in Phividec Industrial Authority v. Capitol Steel Corporation; [3] cralaw and to defer action on the petition pending the submission of these requirements. In response, Land Bank submitted a Manifestation/Compliance, asserting that Piczon, Beramo and Associates, who appear as counsel for Land Bank, "are not private lawyers but Government lawyers,... employed] in or members of the Legal Department" of Land Bank. Moreover, Atty. Manuel C. Piczon is at present the Chief Legal Counsel of Land Bank, while Atty. Danilo B. Beramo is the Manager of the CARP Legal Services Department. Land Bank adverts to the Special Power of Attorney attached to the Petition, authorizing Attys. Piczon, Beramo, Berba�o and other lawyers who are members of the Legal Deparment of LBP, as duly authorized to represent the Bank in this particular case. Finally, it is pointed out that under the Land Bank Charter (Rep. Act No. 3844), the Land Bank is authorized to have its own Legal Department, the chief and members of which shall be appointed by the Board of Directors.
Accordingly, Land Bank concludes that "there is no need for a written conformity and acquiescence of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel as the above-named lawyers are not private lawyers."
We disagree.
It is immediately suspicious why the members of the Land Bank legal department would style themselves as "Piczon Beramo & Associates," thus implying that they are a duly constituted legal partnership whose legal services are available to clients other than the Land Bank. If indeed Attys. Piczon, Beramo and "their associates" are members of the Legal Department, it should be understood that they are appointed in their individual capacities. [4] cralaw And as members of the Legal Department, they would be deemed as public officials, salaried by the Land Bank, [5] cralaw and in the employ of the government-owned or controlled corporation with original charter.
On this score, two points are relevant. First, under Section 7(b)(2) of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (Rep. Act No. 6713), public officials and employees during their incumbency are barred from engaging in the private practice of their profession unless authorized by the Constitution or by law. There is no law authorizing the members of the Legal Department of Land Bank from engaging in private practice, and presumably these lawyers are precluded from any professional legal practice other than in the service of Land Bank. Thus, it behooves this Court why these members of the Land Bank Legal Department choose to undertake the appearance of a private law firm when they are barred by law from engaging in such private practice.
Second, Rule 3.03 of the Code of Professional Responsibility declares that "where a partner accepts public office, he shall withdraw from the firm and his name shall be dropped from the firm name unless the law allows him to practice law concurrently." Again, this ethical rule precludes the members of the Land Bank Legal Department from establishing a private law firm or being designated a "named partner" in such a firm. Thus, the impropriety of Attys. Piczon, Bersamo and Berba�o representing themselves as "Piczon Bersamo and Associates" becomes even more glaring, considering that by their own admission, these three lawyers belong to the Legal Department of Land Bank.
The mere use before this Court of "Piczon Bersamo and Associates" by the Land Bank lawyers is not immediately indicative of any culpable violations, which will have to be proven only after due investigation and hearing. Nonetheless, the error of such representation must be pointed out, especially considering that the Land Bank lawyers assert that they are government lawyers, and not private counsels, who could duly represent the Land Bank before this Court.
On the more substantive point, it may be so that the Land Bank is authorized under its charter to maintain a legal department. Section 91 of Rep. Act No. 3844 states:
SECTION 91. Legal counsel. - The Secretary of Justice shall be ex-officio legal adviser of the Bank. Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Land Bank shall have its own Legal Department, the chief and members of which shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees. The composition, budget and operating expenses of the Office of the Legal Counsel and the salaries and traveling expenses of its officers and employees shall be fixed by the Board of Trustees and paid by the Bank.
The provision is tellingly silent on the scope of legal services to be performed by the Land Bank Legal Department, much less whether or not such office is capacitated to represent the government-owned or controlled corporation (GOCC) before courts such as the Supreme Court. However, Section 10, Book IV, Title III, Chapter 3 of the Administrative Code of 1987 is quite explicit on who maintains control and supervision of the Land Bank Legal Department:
Section 10. Office of the Government Corporate Counsel. - The Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) shall act as the principal law office of all government-owned or controlled corporations, their subsidiaries, other corporate offsprings and government acquired asset corporations and shall exercise control and supervision over all legal departments or divisions maintained separately and such powers and functions as are now or may hereafter be provided by law. . . .(Emphasis supplied)
As discussed in Phividec v. Capitol Steel, [6] cralaw the enunciated government policy has long been accorded on the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) the status as the principal law office of all GOCCs. [7] cralaw As the law currently stands, the OGCC exercises control and supervision over all legal departments or divisions of GOCCs such as the Land Bank. As such, the Land Bank, Legal Department does not stand as an independent fiefdom vested with sole determination on the course of legal affairs of the Land Bank. The OGCC is expected to supervise the work engaged in by the Land Bank Legal Department, and consent to, if not control any positive legal actions maintained by the Land Bank.
At bare minimum, there must have been a demonstration in the petition that the OGCC, in the exercise of its control and supervision of the Land Bank Legal Department, at least consented to the filing of the present. More appropriately, as the principal law office of the Land Bank, it is expected to file the present petition itself, perhaps if appropriate, with the collaboration of the Land Bank Legal Department. Unfortunately, there is not even an indication that the OGCC is even aware of the pendency of this case, and absent the satisfaction of the statutory requirement requiring the OGCC to exercise its role as the principal law office of the Land Bank, the petition cannot be given due course.
Nonetheless, we are disinclined to dismiss outright this petition on a seeming technicality. An appropriate remedial action can be divined from the Court's recent Resolution in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. La Suerte, [8] cralaw the set of facts therein being analogous to the case at bar. Therein, the legal officers of the Bureau of Internal Revenue insisted that, they had the right to file a petition for review in behalf of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue before this Court, notwithstanding the established rule that it is the Office of the Solicitor General which has the duty to represent the Government in the Supreme Court. While the Court disagreed with the contention of the Bureau's legal officers, it nonetheless allowed the petition by directing the Office of the Solicitor General to enter its appearance for the petitioner and to manifest whether or not it was adopting the petition therein. We find that the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel may be similarly required to enter its appearance for Land Bank in this case, and direct it so.
WHEREFORE, the Court hereby DIRECTS the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel to: (a) enter its appearance for petitioner, and (b) manifest whether or not it is adopting the instant petition, both within ten (10) days from receipt of this resolution.
Very truly yours,
(Sgd.) LUDICHI YASAY-NUNAG
Clerk of Court
Endnotes:
[1] cralaw Penned by Justice R.C. Dacudao, concurred in by Justices L.P. Bersamin and C.C. Librea-Leagogo.
[2] cralaw Rollo, p. 54.
[3] cralaw G.R. No. 155692, 23 October 2003, 414 SCRA 327, 333.
[4] cralaw This is also apparent in the Special Power of Attorney, which notably designates seven individual lawyers, and not "Piczon Beramo & Associates."
[5] cralaw See Section 91, Rep. Act No. 3844. ". . . The composition, budget and operating expenses of the Office of the Legal Counsel and the salaries and traveling expenses of its officers and employees shall be fixed by the Board of Trustees and paid by the Bank."
[6] cralaw Supra note 3.
[7] cralaw Id. at 330-333.
[8] cralaw 433 Phil. 465 (2002).
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