Adm. Case No. 277. January 17, 1958

The Solicitor General, in his complaint filed with this
Court, prays that respondent be disbarred from
his office as member of the bar and that he be ordered to surrender the
certificate
issued to him evidencing his admission to the bar. The charge consists in that respondent was convicted
of the complex crime of estafa through falsification of a document by a public
officer by the Court of First Instance of
Isabela, which
judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals
in CAG.R. No.

11774R in a decision
rendered on
May 4, 1956. One of the grounds for which a member of the bar may be
removed from his office as such is his conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude (Rule 127, Section 25, of the Rules of Court). “Moral turpitude”
includes everything which is done contrary to justice, honesty, modesty or good morals (In re Basa, 41 Phil., 276).
In the United States, it has been held that cases of convictions for swindling (estafa) involve moral turpitude (6 C.J., 585586; Delgado’s Legal Ethics, p. 69). Respondent’s
plea for exoneration based on his
suffering
from acute paralysis of the
left half of his body, while it merits the
sympathy if this Court, cannot exempt him
from disbarment.