JOAQUIN G. GARRIDO, CARLOS UY, JR., AND FRANCISCO R. ACHACOSO, PETITIONERS, VS. NORBERTO QUISUMBING, RESPONDENT.

Petitioners Joaquin G. Garrido, Carlos Uy, Jr. and Francisco R. Achacoso
seek either the disbarment or the suspension of respon­dent Attorney Norberto Quisumbing, upon the ground that he filed Civil Case No.
73668 of the Court of First Instance of Manila, as counsel for the plaintiffs
therein, including among them one L. Garcia Pastor, who had not, in fact,
authorized respondent to insti­tute said action on his (Garcia Pastor’s) behalf. 
Copy of an alleged affidavit of Garcia Pastor to this effect was annexed
to the complaint of petitioners herein, which was filed on September 30, 1968.

In his answer thereto, respondent alleged that he filed the complaint
in said case No. 73668 at the request of one of the plaintiffs therein, namely,
Julio Muñoz, who claimed to have authority to act on
behalf of L. Garcia Pastor in connection therewith.  In support of this allegation, respondent
submitted a photostatic copy
of an affidavit of said Muñoz, dated July 12, 1968, which had allegedly
been submit­ted in Civil Case No. 73091 of the Court of First Instance of
Manila.  Subsequently, or on December 4, 1968, respondent filed a
“manifestation” annexing thereto another affidavit of Muñoz, made in Barcelona, Spain,
on November 11, 1968, in
further support of said allegation. 
Thereafter, petitioners filed their reply, which was the object of a
rejoinder on the part of respondent.  The
aforementioned pleadings and the annexes thereto sufficiently establish the
facts necessary for the determination of this administrative case.

It is the contention of Muñoz, a
Spanish citizen, residing in Barcelona, Spain, that he is the controlling
shareholder or the representative of the controlling shareholder of Carmun Trading (N.Y.) Inc., Carmun
Trading (Philippines), Inc., Safintex, S.A., and Sociedad Europea de Financiacion, S.A. – hereafter referred to, re­spectively,
as Carmun (N.Y.), Carmun
(Phil.), Safintex and SEF; that Carmun
(N.Y.) gave Antonio V. Rocha, a businessman in the Philippines, the sum of
$400,000, with which, in 1949, he consti­tuted and funded the Capital Insurance
and Surety Co., Inc., here­after referred to as Capital; that in 1958, Rocha,
who successfully managed the Capital, as its president, and held the shares
therein in trust for Carmun (N.Y.), transferred said
shares to Carmun (Phil.); that thereafter Rocha was
replaced, as president of Capital, by petitioner Garrido,
who had only 16 out of the 10,000 shares of Capital; that L. Garcia Pastor and
Jaime Amat, both Spanish citi­zens and residents, the
former of Madrid, Spain, and the latter of Pasay
City, Philippines, hold 10 shares each of Capital, which Muñoz
caused to be assigned to them to qualify them as members of the Board of
Directors of Capital, of which he (Muñoz) is the
Chairman; that Carmun (Phil.) transferred its shares
in Capital to Safintex, which, in turn, transferred
the shares to SEF; that between 1964 and 1966, there had been an impairment in
the financial condition of Capital, owing to alleged mismanagement by
petitioner Garrido, involving the juggling of
accounts, the falsification of re­cords and other irregularities, committed in
connivance or with the cooperation of herein petitioners Achacoso
and Uy, Vice-President and Accountant General,
respectively, of Capital; that, as a conse­quence, substantial assets of
Capital were fraudulently transferred by the petitioners to the Property and
Liability Insurance Corporation, which was organized and is owned by
petitioners Garrido and Achacoso;
and that, accordingly, he (Muñoz) asked respondent
herein to file, on his behalf and that of Capital, SEF, Garcia Pastor and Amat, said Civil Case No. 73668 against petitioners herein,
to oust them as president, vice-president and accountant, respectively, of
Capital, and to recover damages.

Although Garcia Pastor had not personally authorized respon­dent
herein to file said case on his (Garcia Pastor’s) behalf, as one of the
plaintiffs therein, respondent had no reason to doubt the veracity of the
information furnished by Muñoz regarding his power to
grant such authority, in representation of Garcia Pastor.  Indeed, the latter seemingly claims to have
returned his shares in Capital to Muñoz, thus
impliedly admitting that he (Garcia Pastor) held the shares on behalf of Muñoz.  At any rate, Muñoz knew nothing about said alleged return, he being in Japan,
at the time of the filing of Case No. 73668, whereas Garcia Pastor was then in Barcelona.  Moreover, the re­cords of Capital were in the
possession of petitioners herein, and respondent felt that the complaint in
Case No. 73668 should be filed without delay, owing to the urgency of the
relief therein prayed for.

In other words, when respondent’s services were engaged in
connection with said case, Muñoz informed him that he
(Muñoz) was the controlling stockholder of Capital
and that Garcia Pastor was his alter ego in its board of directors.  Accordingly, Muñoz
authorized respondent to file the action, not only in his (Muñoz)
name, but, also, in that of Garcia Pastor. 
Under the circumstances, it is clear that respondent has not committed
any act of malpractice.  In fact, Garcia
Pastor has not complained against respondent for having acted as he did.  The present administrative proceeding has been
instituted, not by Garcia Pastor, but by the defendants in the aforementioned
civil case.

WHEREFORE, the complaint herein is hereby dismissed.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Reyes, J.B.L., Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Ruiz Castro, Capistrano, Teehankee, and Barredo, JJ., concur.

Dizon and
Fernando, JJ., did not
take part.