HECTOR FULE, ET AL., PETITIONERS, VS. SOLON F. CORDERO, RESPONDENT.

Respondent, Solon F. Cordero, a member of the Philippine Bar and Auxiliary
Justice of the Peace of San Pablo City stands charged — by his first cousins,
namely, Attorneys Hector C. Fule and Conrado C. Fule (brothers), the
latter being the Justice of the Peace of Alaminos,
Laguna — with violation of his attorney’s oath, allegedly by blackmailing the Fule brothers.

The alleged blackmail consists in respondent’s threat to file
criminal and administrative charges against Conrado
C. Fule for alleged falsification of public
documents, namely, Daily Time Records, or Municipal Form No. 45 (A), if Hector
C. Fule would not desist from pursuing his
application for the position of solicitor in the Solicitor General’s Office,
Department of Justice, because respondent was himself interested in said
position.^[1]
Despite the threats made by respondent, however, petitioner, Hector Fule, pursued his application for the position of solicitor
in the Solicitor General’s Office, and was, in fact, appointed solicitor.^[2]
Whereupon, respondent made good his threat and filed five (5) separate administrative
charges with the Department of Justice and a criminal complaint on five (5)
counts with the Office of the Provincial Fiscal of Laguna, against Conrado C. Fule, i.e., Estafa Through Falsification of Public Documents, allegedly
for having falsified daily time records or Municipal Form No. 45 (A), a form
prescribed by the General Auditing Office for certification of services
rendered by members of the judiciary, for the purpose of entitling them to the
salaries claimed for a particular period of time.^[3]
A series of charges and countercharges were thereafter filed by respondent
against petitioners and vice-versa, ranging from criminal cases to
administrative charges, coupled with an exchange of unsavory vilifications.

Due to the close inter-relationship of the events that had made
up the case at bar and the aforementioned charges, the present administrative
case filed by the Fule brothers against respondent
had to await the developments and the outcome of the charges filed by him
against Conrado C. Fule.^[4]
In due time, the criminal complaint filed against Conrado
C. Fule by Solon F. Cordero was dismissed for
insufficiency of evidence^[5]
by the Investigating Fiscal, after preliminary investigation, in a resolution
dated October 11, 1960, which is now under appeal to the Secretary of Justice.^[6] The administrative charges resulted in
admonition to Municipal Judge Conrado C. Fule.^[7]

(After the issues in this case were joined, the same was referred
to the Solicitor General for investigation, report and recommendation in a
resolution of this Court dated June 9,
1961.^[8]
In pursuance thereof, the Solicitor General’s Office — after suspension of
this proceeding as adverted to above — submitted its Report and Recommendation
dated June 14, 1977,
consisting of two (2) pages.  The
Solicitor General recommends that, in view of the death of respondent, Solon F.
Cordero, on January 9, 1977
(as reported by Cordero’s counsel) the instant petition should be dismissed as
moot and academic.^[9]

WHEREFORE, let this administrative case be, as it is
hereby, DISMISSED.  The Solicitor General
is directed to forward to this Court a copy of the death certificate of Atty.
Solon E. Cordero.  Let a copy of this
resolution be entered in the Bar record of deceased respondent.)

Fernando, (Chairman), Barredo,
Antonio, Aquino, and
Concepcion, Jr., JJ., concur.

^[1]
Rollo, pp. 1-3.

^[2]
Ibid, pp. 36, 69, 78 & 129.

^[3]
Ibid, pp. 4-33.

^[4]
Rollo, pp. 44, 71 & 82.

^[5]
Rollo, pp. 56-69.

^[6]
Annex “4”, Rollo, pp. 120-123.

^[7]
Rollo, p. 129.

^[8]
Rollo, p. 127

^[9]
Rollo, pp. 129-130