Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
SECOND DIVISION
A.M. No. 196 June 30, 1980
VIRGINIA SOTTO,
petitioner,
vs.
ORTANES DE GUIA, respondent.
AQUINO, J.:
At the instance of Virginia-Sotto De Guia and after due investigation and hearing, the Solicitor General in a complaint dated July 5, 1962 charged Ortanes de Guia (admitted to the bar in 1952 and married to the complainant in 1938) with grossly immoral conduct and for being unfit to be a member of the bar.
It was alleged in the complaint that the respondent contracted in 1944 a bigamous marriage with Catalina Manuel begetting a child with her, and that since 1953 he has been living with a mistress named Filomena Race.
For reasons not appearing in the record, no action was taken on the said complaint. What appears in the record is Mrs. De Guia's verified motion to dismiss dated August 11, 1961 wherein she prayed that she be allowed to withdraw her complaint The investigating fiscal recommended the denial of that motion.
In a letter dated April 17, 1980, Mrs. De Guia requested that this case be be dismissed because the respondent, her husband band, died on August 13, 1979. A certified copy of the death certificate was attached to the letter.
She also requested that she be allowed to withdraw her marriage contract, Exhibit A, and to substitute it with a photostatic copy thereof.
Complainants requests are hereby granted. As a disbarment is a proceedings which is personal to the respondent his death naturally extinguishes the proceedings Actio personalis moritur cum persona.
WHEREFORE, this case is considered The contract, Exhibit A, may be returned to the complaint upon her ration to the Clerk of Court of a photostatic copy thereof.
SO ORDERED.
Barredo (Chairman), Concepcion, Jr., Abad Santos and De Castro, JJ., concur.
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