Patricia Bautista files disbarment raps vs. UST law dean, 20 others

Patricia Bautista, estranged wife of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson Andres Bautista, on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to disbar University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law dean Nilo Divina and 20 of his law firm colleagues.

According to the complaint, Divina and 20 of his colleagues at the DivinaLaw Office violated the Code of Professional Responsibility over their alleged corrupt ties to Bautista.

Patricia also asked the high court to dissolve the Makati-based law firm.

"Despite the absence of the direct adverse effect of the corrupt acts of the herein respondents [lawyers] towards me, I know for a fact that the injury is towards the more general and abstract Filipino public," the complaint stated.

Bautista was not included in the complaint because he has immunity from suit being an impeachable official, said Patricia's lawyer, Lorna Kapunan.

The complaint stemmed from Patricia's discovery of bank and real property documents in the name of her husband and his relatives that were not reflected in Bautista's 2016 Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) amounting to nearly P1 billion.

Apart from undeclared assets, Patricia also claimed to have found several checks and commission sheets issued by Divina in Bautista's name and his family members.

Patricia said that Bautista received commissions from DivinaLaw for "assisting the law firm's clients with the Comelec."

DivinaLaw is said to be the legal counsel of Smartmatic, a Venezuelan poll technology provider that bagged contracts for the implementation of the 2010, 2013 and 2016 automated elections.

"We have documents to show that not only he did receive them; he received them close to the [2016] elections. We also have canceled checks paid by DivinaLaw Offices not only to Chairman Bautista but to his sister Susan and to the mother and the father," Kapunan told reporters.

"These are not mere allegations. The documents will speak for themselves," she added.

Bautista, who recently bucked an impeachment try at the House of Representatives justice committee, had previously confirmed that referral fees were paid by DivinaLaw but never for companies where he will have potential conflict of interest given his position as a government official.

Divina shrugged off the disbarment complaint even as he assured he would respond to the allegations "accordingly."

"I have always acted in accordance with law and the ethical demands of the law profession. I am not worried at all about any threat of disbarment," he said in a statement.

Divina also believed the complaint had something to do with the impeachment try against Bautista. 

"They are probably sour that their impeachment complaint against Chairman Bautista was dismissed," the lawyer said. —ALG/KVD, GMA News