New lawyers asked to help in fight vs corruption

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has again called on lawyers to help in its crackdown on corrupt members of the judiciary.

Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the most junior member of the high court, admitted that the campaign against “hoodlums in robes” would not bear fruit without public assistance.

“You want to help the judiciary? Lawyers should come forward to provide corrective measure. I am not asking you to be heroes. I am telling you that this is the effect of doing nothing,” he said during a forum on judicial reform at the Ateneo law school in Makati City on Friday.

Leonen, former dean of the UP College of Law, lamented that some lawyers tolerate petty corruption in the judiciary for convenience.

“Lawyers’ organizations should do something about this. What have they done to be able to capture and reduce all of these?” he said.

The magistrate lamented that seasoned practitioners who witness corruption and do nothing about it are “doing the younger practitioners a disservice.”

Citing an example, he said courtesy calls with judges or justices that turn into a meeting where particular cases are discussed are simply “unethical.”

“Integrity is a difficult principle to live up to. To have integrity is to have one’s level of self-esteem or character. It’s difficult to feed your children using money that comes from corruption,” Leonen said.

“Corruption is not normal. It cannot be what our people deserve. Doing the right thing should be what is normal,” he added.

Leonen, however, admitted that challenges to the integrity of courts could be attributed to lack of funds in the judiciary.

“Historically, the budget of the judiciary has been very low. This is why things like Arlene Lerma happen. People come in through the cracks, look at vulnerabilities of judges and justices,” he lamented.

Lerma is believed to be “Ma’am Arlene” – the reported “fixer” of cases in courts earlier investigated by an ad hoc committee of the SC chaired by Leonen himself.

The probe panel submitted to the high tribunal its report earlier this month. It has not yet been released pending approval of the justices.

It was not the first time an SC magistrate called on lawyers to help the SC in cracking down on corrupt members of judiciary.