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PRIVATE PRACTICE OR SENATE JOB? Bellas tells Arriola to choose By MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN
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Posted on Nov 11 1999
Superior Court Associate Judge Timothy Bellas yesterday urged lawyer Joseph Arriola to decide whether he wants to continue serving as Senate legal counsel. or pursue his private law practice.
At the court hearing, Bellas expressed inclination to grant the Attorney General’s Office’s motion to disqualify Arriola from defending clients charged with illegal gambling, but the judge said he would decide otherwise if Arriola would resign as Senate legal counsel.
The AGO said Arriola violated the Government Ethics Act which prohibits public officials and employees from representing private individuals contesting a government entity before a court.
Aside from working as Senate legal counsel, Arriola is also serving on the Board of Parole, but Bellas did not find Arriola’s board position having any conflict with his private practice.
The AGO, however, maintained that Arriola “cannot wear two hats at the same time.”
“He cannot be a private attorney appearing in the court and an attorney working for the legislature at the same time. He has to decide whom he works for,” Asst. Atty. General Kevin Lynch said after the court hearing.
Arriola said he would not leave his Senate job, maintaining that he is under an independent contract with the Senate.
“I’m not a public employee. I don’t enjoy the benefits of public employees,” Arriola said in an interview.
Arriola is representing Cheung Ping Yin and seven others charged criminally at the Superior Court for illegal gambling. At the same time, he is representing Cheung, a co-plaintiff of former Senate President Juan S. Demapan, in the $3 million civil lawsuit alleging illegal arrest and seizure of properties.
The AGO is seeking Arriola’s disqualification from both cases.
“There’s a number of attorneys in government service who are not doing private practice at all because we can’t ethically do it. We work for the government which is the only [entity] that we work for,” Lynch said.
Bellas is expected to issue a written decision next week.
