For failing to marry gf, man NOT allowed to become atty

In a complaint made way back in 1971, Patricia Figueroa petitioned that respondent Simeon Barranco, Jr. be denied admission to the legal profession. [Simeon] had passed the 1970 bar examinations on the fourth attempt, after unsuccessful attempts in 1966, 1967 and 1968. Before he could take his oath, however, [Patricia] filed the instant petition averring that [Simeon] and she had been sweethearts, that a child out of wedlock was born to them and that [Simeon] did not fulfill his repeated promises to marry her.

[Simeon] and [Patricia] were sweethearts whose sexual relations were evidently consensual. [The Supreme Court does] not find [Patricia's] assertions that she had been forced into sexual intercourse, credible. She continued to see and be [Simeon'] girlfriend even after she had given birth to a son in 1964 and until 1971. All those years of amicable and intimate relations refute her allegations that she was forced to have sexual congress with him. [Patricia] was then an adult who voluntarily and actively pursued their relationship and was not an innocent young girl who could be easily led astray. Unfortunately, [Simeon] chose to marry and settle permanently with another woman. [The Supreme Court] cannot castigate a man for seeking out the partner of his dreams, for marriage is a sacred and perpetual bond which should be entered into because of love, not for any other reason.
[The Supreme Court] cannot help viewing the instant complaint as an act of revenge of a woman scorned, bitter and unforgiving to the end. It is also intended to make [Simeon] suffer severely and it seems, perpetually, sacrificing the profession he worked very hard to be admitted into. Even assuming that his past indiscretions are ignoble, the twenty-six years that [Simeon] has been prevented from being a lawyer constitute sufficient punishment therefor. During this time there appears to be no other indiscretion attributed to him. [Simeon], who is now sixty-two years of age, should thus be allowed, albeit belatedly, to take the lawyers oath. (SBC Case No. 519. July 31, 1997)

In short, Simeon was not allowed to practice law for 26 years simply because he failed to fulfill his promise to marry a woman with whom he had a child. He was only allowed to take the lawyer's oath at the age of 62. Wow! (PATRICIA FIGUEROA, complainant, vs. SIMEON BARRANCO, JR., respondent.)