Felicitas Felicitas Quiambao vs. Atty.

Nestor Bamba
Quiambao was the president and managing director of Allied Investigation Bureau, Inc (AIB). Quiambao
retained the legal services of Atty. Bamba for the corporate affairs of AIB. Respondent was also the legal
counsel of Quiambao in an ejectment case she filed against spouses Santiago and Florito Torroba.
When Quiambao resigned from AIB, respomdent, without withdrawing as counsel from the ejectment
case, represented AIB in a case for replevin and damages filed against her. Quiambao filed charges
against respondent for representing conflicting interests.
For his part, respondent denied that he was a personal lawyer of Quiambao, and he believes that it is part
of his duty to pursue cases in behalf of employees at the time Quiambao was working in AIB. Respondent
also contends that the ejectment case and replevin case are completely unrelated.
Issue: Whether or not Atty. Bamba is guilty of misconduct for representing conflicting interests in
violation of the Code of Professional Responsibility.
Held: Yes, the respondent is found guilty of representing conflicting interests. Despite respondent
contention that his legal services extend to AIB’s employees, this should not cover the personal cases filed
by its officers.
Even though the replevin and ejectment case are unrelated, representing opposing clients therein gives
rise to suspicions of double-dealing, and would thus result to a conflict of interest.