DINSAY v CIOCO Facts: Planters Machinery Corporation (PLAMACO) mortgaged to Traders Royal Bank (the Bank) certain properties

s as security for the payment of its loan. PLAMACO defaulted in the payment of the loan so the Bank extrajudicially foreclosed the mortgage. At a foreclosure sale conducted by the sheriff, the property was sold to the bank, who was the sole bidder. A certificate of Sheriffs sale was executed by Atty. Cioco, then clerk of Court and Ex-officio Sheriff. Records disclose that page four of the said Certificate was surreptitiously substituted. The new page lowered the bid price from the original amount of P3, 263, 182.67 to only P730,000. Cioco and the sheriff who conducted the sale had previously been administratively charged and dismissed from service. Now, Atty.Cioco is sought to be disbarred. He argues that there was res adjudicata due to the administrative case, and that disbarment was deemed adjudicated therein, thus he may now longer be charged.

Issue: W/N Cioco may be charged with disbarment (W/N res adjudicata appplies) Held: Ciocos contention has no merit. Res adjudicata applies only to judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings and not to the exercise of the Courts administrative powers, as in this case. Disbarment has not been adjudicated in the previous case. Therein, Cioco was administratively proceeded against as an erring Court personnel under the supervisory authority of the court. Herein, Cioco is sought to be disciplined as a lawyer under the courts plenary authority over members of the legal profession. While Cioco is in effect being indicted twice for the same misconduct, there is no double jeopardy as both proceedings are administrative in nature. The general rule is that a lawyer who holds a government office may not be disciplined as a member of the bar for misconduct in the discharge of his duties as a government official. The exception is , if that misconduct affects his qualification as a lawyer or shows moral delinquency. Ciocos participation in changing the bid price in the Certificate of Sheriffs Sale affects his fitness as a member of the bar. He knows it is patently illegal to alter its contents after notarization, since it is already a public document. Cioco is disbarred.