SC junks celebrity doctor’s plea vs 7-year prison term

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has denied a petition of celebrity cosmetic surgeon Joel Mendez to annul a Quezon City court’s decision sentencing him to seven years in prison for failing to remit more than P1.8 million in monthly contributions of his employees to the Social Security System.

In a resolution made public on July 31, the SC’s First Division denied Mendez’s petition for review against the Court of Appeals (CA).

Mendez accused the CA of grave abuse of discretion when it upheld the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 88’s 2016 decision to convict him.

The SC found no merit in his petition.

The High Court noted that Mendez said his former counsel Marc Antonio received the 2019 CA resolution and belatedly informed him of the decision.

Instead of filing the petition for review within 60 days from the CA’s promulgation, Mendez sought the services of a new lawyer and filed the petition beyond the required period, the SC said.

On Mendez’s arguments against the application of civil case jurisprudence to his criminal case, the SC said Mendez should not have filed a petition for annulment of judgment, which “is foremost a remedy available only in civil actions.”

Mendez was convicted and arrested in 2020 for attempted rape and two counts of rape through sexual assault. He was also convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to three years in prison in 2016.