[ B.M. No.

419, February 11, 1988 ]

RE: PETITION FOR ADMISSION TO THE PHILIPPINE BAR -
RAMON J. QUISUMBING

Gentleman:

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of the Court En Banc

dated FEBRUARY 11, 1988

"B.M. No. 419 (RE: (Petition for Admission to the Philippine Bar - Ramon J.
Quisumbing).-

Ramon J. Quisumbing, a citizen and resident of the Philippines who obtained his
degree in law (Juris Doctorem) from (Georgetown University Law Center,
Washington, D.C., who took and passed the bar examinations of the District of
Columbia and the State of Virginia and has been admitted to the practice of law
in various jurisdictions in the United States including the Federal, Supreme
Court, applies for admission to the practice of law without need of taking the
bar examinations. The petition, male on his behalf relies on the following
grounds:

1. Rule 133, Section 4, of the Rules of Court.

2. Comity or reciprocity with the State of New York.

3. The case of In Re Shoop. 41 Phil. 213 (1920).

A. The requirements under rule 133, Section 4 are not met.

The provision reads:

Section 4. Requirements for applicants other jurisdictions. - Applicants for
admission who, being Filipino citizens, are enrolled attorneys in good standing in
the Supreme Court of the United States or in any circuit court of appeals or district
court therein, or in the highest court of any State or Territory of the United States,
and who can show by satisfactory certificates that they have practiced at least five
years in any of said courts, that such practice began before July 4, 1946, and that
they have never been suspended or disbarred, may, in the discretion of the Court,
be admitted without examination. (Underscoring supplied.)

Applicant admits that he does not satisfy the, requirement that practice in the
foreign jurisdiction must have commenced prior to July 4, 1946. (Petition, p.
5.) However, he insists that given his qualifications and experience, he should
nevertheless "in the discretion of the Court, be admitted without examination."
The correct application of the aforecited Rule is that discretion to admit to the bar
may be exercised only after it is shown that the applicant has complied with all the
requirements thereunder.

B. There is at present no Philippine rule authorizing the admission to the Philippine

Bar on the basis of reciprocity or comity.

Reciprocity or comity does not operate in the abstract. A local law governs and
regulates the extent by which reciprocity may be invoked as the source of a right or
privilege. The Rules of Court promulgated by the Supreme Court which under the
1987 Constitution has the sole power to promulgate rules concerning admission to
the practice of law in the Philippines, makes no provision for admission to the bar
on the basis of reciprocity. The Court notes that Rule 520.9 of the Rules of the New
York Court of Appeals does not impose reciprocity as a condition for admission of
foreign trained lawyers who may be admitted to the New York bar without
examination.

The limited application of comity as a ground for admission to the Philippine bar is
embodied in Rule 138 sec. 4 cited above. Since the conditions thereunder are not
met by applicant, then he cannot claim the benefits under the rule.

C. In Re Shoop is no longer controlling.

Applicant himself admits that In Re Shoop "may no longer be binding

precedent. Said case was decided under the old Rules for the Examination of
Candidates for Admission to the Practice of Law, which had been became effective
on July 1, 1920, but which had been long superseded by the 1964 Rules of
Courts.

The Court acting on earlier similar applications for admission to law practice by
Filipino citizens' who obtained their law degrees abroad denied them and required,
their taking of the bar examinations for admission to the Philippine
Bar. (B.M. 371 Re: Petition to take the 1988 Bar Examination - Jose Miguel
Diokno; also Re; Ricardo Jose Romulo (1958); Re: Alejandro A. Lichauco (1955).

In view of the above considerations, the Court Resolved to DENY the petition for
admission of Ramon J. Quisumbing to the practice of law without taking and
passing the bar examinations.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) DANIEL T. MARTINEZ

Clerk of Courts