In Re Felipe Del Rosario

Facts:
Felipe Del Rosario was a candidate in the bar examination who failed for the second
time in 1925. He presented himself for the succeeding bar examination in 1926 and again was
unable to obtain the required rating. Then on 29 March 1927, he authorized the filing of a motion
for the revision of his papers for 1925 based on alleged mistake in the computation of his grades.
The Court granted this motion and admitted him to the bar.
HOWEVER, a subsequent investigation by the city fiscal uncovered that Del Rosario,
together with one Juan Villaflor, a former employee of the Supreme Court, falsified some
documents to make it appear that Del Rosario actually passed the 1925 bar exams. The two were
subsequently charged with falsification. Villaflor was convicted as he pleaded guilty but Del
Rosario was acquitted for lack of evidence. The fiscal however recommended Del Rosario to
surrender his certificate of attorney.
Issue:
Whether or not Felipe Del Rosario can be stripped off of his certificate of attorney.

Held:
Yes. The practice of law is not an absolute right to be granted everyone who demands it,
but is a privilege to be extended or withheld in the exercise of the sound discretion. The standard
of the legal profession are not satisfied by conduct which merely enables one to escape the
penalties of the criminal law. It would be a disgrace to the judiciary to receive one whose
integrity is questionable as an office of the court, to clothe him with all the prestige of its
confidence, and then to permit him to hold himself out as a duly authorized member of the bar.