"He is still humble enough to express gratitude to whomever it is due."
"He is still humble enough to express gratitude to whomever it is due."Late last week, news regarding a suspension order issued by the Supreme Court against controversial lawyer Larry Gadon came out. The suspension order, published last June 26, was good for 90 days.
The decision to suspend Gadon stemmed from the disbarment case of dermatologist Helen Joselina Mendoza filed against him in 2009.
Mendoza reportedly got into a dispute with Gadon when the Ambulatory Health Care Institute, where Gadon was vice president at the time, reduced the doctor's clinic hours after a patient complained.
Demanding to be restored her clinic hours, Mendoza, in her complaint, said Gadon called her letters "very stupid" and mocked her strategy of filing legal suits which he said can take up to 10 years.
And that was what supposedly earned Gadon his suspension—his remarks on the slow justice system in the country which tended to paint the legal system in a bad light, according to the SC order.
But as he was in Russia last week as part of the business delegation which joined President Rodrigo Duterte’s trip, Gadon was only able to issue a statement upon arriving in Manila early this week. And it turns out, that bad*ss lawyer as he is when it comes to his opponents, Gadon is still humble enough to express gratitude to whomever it is due.
In his statement, Gadon never questioned the decision and instead expressed appreciation to the justices, who were at the opposing side in cases he has handled, for seeing the wisdom in dismissing the petition for disbarment and opting instead for a three-month suspension.
Gadon specifically mentioned Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, whose appointment as Chief Justice he had viciously opposed earlier, and Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, whom he had been criticizing for his alleged biases on the election protest filed by former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos against Leni Robredo.
“I thank Associate Justice Antonio Carpio for being objective that a mere three- month suspension is meted out instead of disbarment or a two-year suspension. I thank him for being objective and considerate despite my public pronouncements that he should not be appointed Chief Justice after the ouster of Atty. [Lourdes] Sereno,” Gadon’s statement read.
“As I was telling the media then, seniority in the judiciary means the total number of years in the judiciary including the lower courts, not only the years served in the Supreme Court. And despite my public pronouncements that Associate Justice Carpio may be a subject of impeachment complaint for encroaching on the executive prerogatives over the issue of South China Sea. Thus, I respect him for his objectivity for meting out a suspension of mere three months after 10 years that the case was filed,” his statement further read.
“I also take note of the objectivity of Associate Justice Caguioa for concurring with the three months suspension despite public knowledge that I have been very critical of the snail paced process of and the glaring bias and treatment of the protest of Senator Bongbong, Gadon added.
In fact, Gadon says the three-month suspension “is a silver lining compared to being kicked out as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in obvious reference to Sereno whose appointment as Chief Justice was invalidated.
But of course, Gadon would not be himself if he would not be giving his “bobo” critics a ribbing.
“I am so amused and elated that the three-month suspension has been a toast of national news when other lawyers who get disbarred or suspended for two years did not merit any attention by the public,” noted Gadon.
According to Gadon, his three-month suspension was a result of a case of disbarment filed against him for using temperate and insulting language on a fellow lawyer, and not on some stupid action taken by some lawyers, particularly, Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno.
“I was not suspended due to ignorance and stupidity like what Atty. Chel Diokno did in filing the Petition for the Writ of Kalikasan where he failed to secure the authorization of the alleged petitioners who turned out to have no knowledge and permission to use their names. And also for ignorance of procedures that Judicial Affidavits must be attached to the Petition,” Gadon stressed.
Gadon says suspension is common among tough and well-known fighter lawyers.
“Sometimes it is hard to resist being sarcastic using insulting language on the shallow arguments of a fellow lawyer which was the ground for the suspension,” he says adding that the suspension order is petty which happens to lawyers whose emotional outburst cannot be avoided under unique circumstances.
Nonetheless, even with his suspension, whether its effectivity has commenced on the date of publication which was last June 26 and should have therefore lapsed, or still has to take effect upon his receipt of the copy of the order, Gadon’s stock has never diminished or has ever been affected at all.
As a matter of fact, another lawyer friend jokingly commented Gadon’s suspension might even be proof he has already arrived.