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MANIWANG
[A.M. No.1608]
[August 14, 1981]
TOPIC:
Feb 24, 1976: Petitioner sought the disbarment of respondent on the ground of grossly
immoral conduct (refused to fulfill his promise of marriage to her)
Respondents arguments
o Admitted to his relationship with petitioner, that he was the father of their child,
and that he promised to marry her
o Explained that he refused to marry her due to her shady past (accused in court of
oral defamation and already had an illegitimate child before their child was born)
Sol Gen sided with him: cohabitation & non-fulfillment of promise to marry doesnt
warrant disbarment
WON a lawyer's sexual congress with a woman not his wife or without the benefit
of marriage should be characterized as "grossly immoral conduct," will depend on
the surrounding circumstances
This case is similar to Soberano v. Villanueva
o Soberano: Villanueva had frequent sex with Soberano before his admission to the
bar in 1954. She wrote to him in 1950 and 1951 several letters making reference
to their trysts in hotels, one of which contained expressions of vulgar nature,
which imparts the firm conviction that, because of the close intimacy between the
parties, she felt no restraint whatsoever in writing to him with impudicity. 2
children were born as a consequence of her long intimacy with the respondent.
SC: respondent's refusal to marry petitioner was not so corrupt nor unprincipled as to
warrant disbarment
o