Noli Eala - Disbarment and Resignation

Disbarment and Resignation

On August 1, 2007, the Philippine Supreme Court (in a 9-page per curiam decision) disbarred Eala because of his "grossly immoral conduct" that stemmed from an extramarital affair. Eala violated Canons 1 and 7 of Rule 1.01 of the Code of Professional Responsibility because of his affair with a married woman named Irene Moje prior to the judicial declaration that her marriage was null and void. On September 20, 2007, the Supreme Court of the Philippines dismissed with finality Eala's motion for reconsideration, ruling that, in engaging in an affair, Eala ridiculed marriage as mere "scrap of paper", and violated his lawyer's oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws.

This resulted in the PBA board, during an emergency meeting on August 7, 2007, voting 5-3 to sack Eala as commissioner. On the same day, Eala announced his resignation from his post due to the circumstances of his disbarment case.

The league appointed former PBA executive director Sonny Barrios as officer-in-charge. On January 17, 2008, executive director Renauld Sonny Barios was named new PBA commissioner by the board (after Chito Salud and Lambert Santos did not get enough votes) until 2009 (after Noli Eala resigned in August, 2007).