Supreme Court fines UST law dean for ‘excessive’ gifts to IBP local chapter

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) has fined prominent corporate lawyer Nilo Divina, the dean of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Civil Law, for gifting Balesin and Bali trips to members of the Central Luzon chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).

“The Court finds Atty. Nilo T. Divina guilty of Simple Misconduct in violation of Canon II, Section 1 and Section 2 of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability and is hereby fined PHP 100,000.00 with a stern warning that a repetition of the same or similar offense will be dealt with more severely,” the Supreme Court en banc said in a decision made public on Monday, August 19.

It stemmed from an anonymous complaint that Divina, whose law firm has represented high-profile personalities from Kris Aquino to Solar Entertainment, allegedly conducted illegal campaigning so he could be elected governor of the IBP’s local chapter in Central Luzon. The letter said it was to pave the way for Divina to be eventually elected president of the IBP, the mandatory organization of all lawyers in the country.

Divina admitted to sponsoring trips for IBP-Central Luzon, which includes the Tarlac chapter, both in the exclusive island resort of Balesin and in Bali, Indonesia, but the lawyer claimed “his generosity is only a way of giving back to the legal community.” Divina said he had sponsored other trips to other IBP local chapters before.

Divina also said that while he had been encouraged to vie for IBP-Central Luzon governor, “he could not handle the demands of being an IBP Governor.” By round robin rules, the next governor of IBP-Central Luzon serving from 2023-2025 would be coming from the Tarlac chapter. Divina was introduced as a member of the Tarlac chapter in 2021 during a Christmas party he also sponsored.

The SC said it didn’t find Divina guilty of violating the IBP’s by-laws which prohibit illegal campaigning because there were no proof that the lawyer wanted to be governor of IBP-Central Luzon.

“The anonymous Letter in fact explicitly states that Atty. Divina’s intentions to be the IBP-Central Luzon Governor is ‘an open secret.’ However, without any corroborating evidence, such statement remains to be hearsay,” said the SC.

But the Court said Divina was guilty of simple misconduct because the Balesin and Bali trips “crossed the borders on excessive and overstepped the line of propriety.”

Canon II of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA) says lawyers “shall, at all times, act with propriety and maintain the appearance of propriety in personal and professional dealings.”

Officers of local chapters within IBP-Central Luzon who partook of the trips were also found guilty of simple misconduct, and fined P100,000 each.

Violations of this canon could have resulted in a one- to six-month suspension, but the SC majority chose a fine instead. In a separate opinion, Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen voted to suspend Divina for six months. There were two dissenters, Divina’s fellow Thomasian Associate Justice Amy Lazaro Javier and Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando.

In 2017, back-to-back scandals hounded Divina. First, was his implication in the hazing death of UST law student Atio Castillo, which charged members of the Aegis Juris fraternity, his own fraternity, although he claimed he was not active at the time of Castillo’s death. Second, was his supposed involvement in a Smartmatic mess with his close friend, former elections chairperson Andres Bautista, as alleged by Bautista’s estranged wife Patricia.

Divina was back in the news under better circumstances in 2023 when UST topped the Bar Examinations. – Rappler.com