Merceditas and the ethics of lawyers

Q: Do you know the reason why lawyers cannot enter directly either the heaven or the hell?
A: Because they keep on questioning the guidelines of St. Peter.


But kidding aside, lawyers have this Canon of Professional Ethics which they need to follow "that the public shall have absolute confidence in the integrity and impartiality of administration of justice." And Merceditas Gutierrez is a lawyer before becoming an Ombudsman. But it seems that her breeding is not of a lawyer as she personally lashed back at her critics who followed the rules and filed an impeachment complaint against her ... o lawyers lang ang dapat sumunod sa Canon of Professional Ethics?

Kung sabagay, why should we expect kay Merceditas to be following the Canon eh simpleng argumentum ad hominem hindi niya nga alam na fallacy pala. But even then, her speech makes a very good comic show. Here's the take from Inquirer.Net:

JDV is cheap!

Cong. Jose de Venecia admitted accepting a P500,000 bribe just to stall the October 2007 Impeachment complaint against Gloria Arroyo. Here's the report of the Inquirer:

Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he, along with some other congressmen and local officials, was given the alleged bribe on Oct. 11, 2007, to support a "sham" impeachment complaint to protect President Macapagal-Arroyo from a stronger suit.

On the same day he received the payoff, the then Speaker De Venecia said Ms Arroyo pressured him three times during a meeting in her Malacañang office to endorse the "weak" impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Roel Pulido.

De Venecia said the P500,000 was brought to his office in the House of Representatives by a staff member of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office on the afternoon of Oct. 11 when the House was set to vote on the Pulido complaint.

How cheap naman!

But JDV seems to have forgotten: Coming out this late (it's one year and one month!) does not relieve him of his guilt of being a party to bribery! Is he coming out only because he wanted to get even? If he really wanted to follow the law to the letter, he should have came out earlier and accused Gloria in the Palace of bribery and not after one year. In bribery, the issue is not whether or not the money is intact. It's the act of accepting the money and the intent behind such act.

How sad naman...