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Lawyer Argee Guevarra says suspension by Supreme Court contradictory

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MANILA — Lawyer-activist Roberto &quot;Argee&quot; Guevarra said on Saturday he will comply with the Supreme Court&#x27;s decision suspending him from practicing law for one year &quot;as a matter of duty,&quot; but said the ruling is contradictory.&quot;This decision . . . creates a paradox in legal history and has far-reaching consequences on the primordial right of every Filipino&#x27;s exercise of free speech and of expression,&quot; he said in a press statement posted on social networking site Facebook.<script src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.5" async="" type="text/javascript"></script><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/argee.guevarra/posts/10154984839658474" data-width="auto"> </div>On Friday, the Supreme Court said in a 13-page decision penned by Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe that Guevarra was guilty of violating the lawyers&#x27; Code of Professional Responsibility.<ul class="op-related-articles" title="Read">	<li>READ: <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/05/17/sc-suspends-lawyer-for-malicious-posts-vs-vicki-belo">SC suspends lawyer for &#x27;malicious&#x27; posts vs Vicki Belo </a></li></ul>Guevarra said he thought the decision was inconsistent with a previous set of cases he had handled.Guevarra cited three libel cases filed against him by Imelda Marcos in 1996 after he wrote a series of articles in his BusinessWorld column that described her as a kleptocrat.The cases were dismissed after the preliminary investigation, he said. The following year, the high court also dismissed Marcos&#x27; debarment petition to prevent him from taking his lawyer&#x27;s oath.In the Vicki Belo case, Guevarra was the counsel for a certain Josefina Norcio, who filed criminal cases against Belo accusing her of botching surgical procedures in 2002 and 2005.Guevarra merely &quot;took up the cudgels for (Norcio) to launch a campaign on Facebook,&quot; the lawyer said, as his client could not afford to put up ads or pay for commercials. &quot;I admit to calling Belo &#x27;Doctor Quack Quack,&#x27; &#x27;Reyna ng Kaplastikan&#x27; (Belo, after all, claims that she is a plastic surgeon to the stars) and &#x27;Reyna ng Kapalpakan&#x27; in my Facebook. In 2009, the anti-Cybercrime law — specifically a provision thereof — was still a wisp in the eye of our legislators,&quot; Guevarra said.Belo filed a libel complaint against Guevarra before the Rizal Provincial Prosecutor&#x27;s Office but was dismissed after a preliminary investigation. However, the investigating prosecutor&#x27;s recommendation for dismissal was overturned by the chief provincial prosecutor. &quot;A criminal information was filed against me before a branch in the Regional Trial Court in Antipolo but the case was later on dismissed after the court granted my motion for judicial determination of probable cause,&quot; Guevarra said.Belo then filed a disbarment case against Guevarra with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines&#x27; board of governors recommending a six-month suspension, &quot;which eventually led to this improvident Supreme Court decision.&quot;Guevarra said the contradictory rulings create confusion because, he added, the high court effectively inoculated and immunized Belo from any form of criticism.&quot;Inasmuch as the Supreme Court should discipline errant lawyers, I submit that it, too, should be the vanguard in protecting members of the legal profession from harassment suits filed by losing litigants,&quot; he said.

Lawyer-activist Roberto "Argee" Guevarra said on Saturday he will comply with the Supreme Court's decision suspending him from practicing law, but said the ruling is contradictory.

Lawyer-activist Roberto "Argee" Guevarra said on Saturday he will comply with the Supreme Court's decision suspending him from practicing law, but said the ruling is contradictory.