The Wikipedia entry under Philippine general election, 2007 says that Antonio Estrella, KBL senatorial bet is an:
“international Lawyer, Professor of Law at the Philippine Public Safety College-National Police College, International Civil Rights Lawyer Member of the International Bar Association, and a recipient of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Award of Excellence and Outstanding Service for Public Interest.”
A Comment in halalan-2007.blogspot.com, by a certain JUAN DE LA CRUZ, however, pointed out that:
“Antonio L. Estrella is a fake, he is not a licensed lawyer in the USA nor is he licensed to practice law in the Philippines. He was exposed to be a fake lawyer in May 2001, resulting in the revocation of his admittance before several federal court.”
The Question: Is KBL candidate ATTY ESTRELLA a Fraud?
I googled for “Antonio Estrella” and except for election related articles that I got, there were a few entries about him. It would therefore be difficult for me to say if Estrella is indeed a fake lawyer unless unless I check the validity of dela cruz’ claim with the PRC (ooopppssss i was told that I should check the Philippine Supreme Court website instead of getting the info from PRC) or some KBL candidates may be able to find this blog entry and comment on this.
What I have are only ideas:
The Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that can be edited by anybody. I don’t know who put the details of Estrella in the Wikipedia but one motivation, which is apparent in most wikipedia entries of senatoriables, is to boost his credibility that he too is capable of becoming senator. Since wikipedia is not a credible source, we can just wait until somebody verifies that estrella is indeed a lawyer.
The KBL party has endorsed Joselito Cayetano, who fortunately, have already been disqualified by the COMELEC. Joselito claimed that he is a marine engineer but it turned out later that he is not (thanks to the efforts of Alan Peter Cayetano). If KBL endorsed self proclaimed marine engineers, is it also possible that the party endorses a self proclaimed lawyer?
Implications
The issues against Joselito Cayetano and now Antonio Estrella is bad for the image of KBL. If Estrella emerges to be a real fraud, the KBL party will appear to be a trying hard and fraudulent party. Too bad, they have in their list some really good senatoriables.
Update as of April 1.
I checked the integrated bar of the philippines member list but I did not find Estrella’s name. I also checked the 2004 “law list” of the supreme court of the Philippines but there is no Antonio Estrella. I just do not know if an international lawyer needs to be recognized by the supreme court or the IBP. I guess I need to ask somebody with expertise in law about this.
January 6th, 2009
4 Comments at "Is KBL candidate ATTY ESTRELLA a Fraud?"
US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Case Summary
Court of Appeals Docket #: 01-80133 Filed: 6/7/01
Nsuit: 0
In Re: Estrella v.
Appeal from: Southern District of California (San Diego)
Lower court information:
District: 0974-3 :
Date Filed: **/**/**
2001 9011 Mira Mesa Boulevard
Respondent San Diego, CA 92126
In re: ANTONIO L. ESTRELLA, Esq., Admitted to the Bar of the
Ninth Circuit: March 08, 2001
Respondent
6/7/01 Notification received from the Federal Circuit, DC,
respondent’s admission to the bar of that court has been
revoked as having issued in error. (dl)
6/7/01 Filed order (Deputy Clerk: dl) The court is informed that
on May 22, 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit revoked the admission of respondent to the
bar of that court as having issued in error. The Federal
Circuit Court of Appeals noted that admission to a federal
court must be based on membership in a state bar. (CITE)
Within 21 days from the entry of this order, respondent
Antonio L. Estretta, shall resign from the bar of this
court or shall show cause, in writing, why respondent
should not be disbarred from the practice of law in this
court. (CITE). Upon consideration of the response to this
order and after a hearing, if requested, the court will
determine whether to order respondent suspended or
disbarred under FRAP 46(c). This order shall be provided to
respondent via certified mail (7000 0520 0024 4796 44886) @
9011 Mira Mesa Blvd, Suite 101, San Diego, CA 92126.
Failure to respond to this order in a timely fashion will
result in disbarment of respondent without further notice.
[01-80133] (dl)
7/27/01 Order filed ( Procedurally Terminated Without Judicial
Action; Other. ) The court’s order of 6/7/01, is amended to
reflect the correct spelling of respondent’s name. On
6/7/01, the court ordered Antonio Estrella to voluntarily
resign or to show cause, in writing, why he should not be
suspended or disbarred from the practice of law in this
court. Compliance with that order was to have been
achieved by 6/28/01. To date, respondent has neither
submitted his resignation nor shown cause why he should not
be suspended or disbarred from the practice of law before
this court. Accordingly, respondent is herey removed from
the roll of atys admitted to practice before this court.
[01-80133] ™
——————————————————————————–
This is a copy of an email I received from the Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces:
In reply to your email of March 26, I responded to your letter yesterday, noting that Mr. Estrella’s membership in the bar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces was revoked ab initio on June 15, 2001. We notified him by letter of this action, and we have not heard from him since.
I did receive a letter from the Clerk of Court of the Supreme Court of the Philippines advising that the certificate submitted by Mr. Estrella of his membership in the bar of that court was a forgery.
We will mail you a copy of that letter today.
Sincerely,
William A. DeCicco
Clerk of the Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
The US Court of International Trade still has Mr. Estrella as admitted to practice before their court, it is because they were not made aware of the mistake of the US COA for the Federal Circuit made by admitting Estrella before their court. I have since forwarded proof of Mr. Estrella’s fraud to the US Court of International Trade, and just awaiting word of his disbarment. I am also in possession of a copy of the letter sent to Mr. DeCicco of the US COA for the Armed Forces by the Philippine Supreme Court confirming that the certificate of good standing that Antonio L. Estrella submitted is a forgery.
Go to http://www.juandelacruz.wordpress.com it has pdf files RE: Mr. Estrella. Excuse the pdf files from the US Tax Court, it is inverted, just rotate it to be upright.
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