Sereno to lawyers: Fight impunity amid threats, fear

MANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday night called on the country’s lawyers to do their share in combating impunity amid “living in violent times,” as proven by 86 law practitioners who had been killed since 1999, which has caused some to fear handling certain cases.

Speaking before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ (IBP) 16th National Convention of Lawyers at the Marriott Hotel, Sereno reminded the lawyers present to bear in mind their role and not allow impunity to succeed.

The conference had the theme “Global and Regional Integration of Legal Services: Challenging the Philippine Status Quo.”

In a statement, Sereno pointed out that these are “increasingly violent times that we find ourselves in,” citing that there have been lawyers and judges who have been threatened and attacked, particularly public interest lawyers.

From 1999 to 2014, 83 practicing lawyers, excluding prosecutors and judges, were violently killed, while from 2015 to the present, three have been assassinated.

As a result, according to Sereno, individual members of the Bar and even one chapter have taken the step of publicly articulating their fears and even desisting from handling specific cases.

‘National conversion’

Calling for a “continuing national conversion” among Filipino lawyers, the Chief Justice admonished her audience to “swim against whatever tide meets them” and to “bring hope.”

“When judges and lawyers hesitate to do the right thing for fear of being derogated for the company they keep or when they respond to vilification, threats and actual violence with surrender and capitulation, the rule of law is shoved out and impunity steps in,” Sereno said.

“The reality of the violent times we find ourselves in should make us – we, in the judiciary, and you, in the practicing Bar – all too aware of our role in combating impunity and promoting the rule of law and the law of hope.”

In the same speech, Sereno reminded lawyers on how they could do this: by taking their oath seriously; by signing up to help; by going against the grain and not taking the path of least resistance; and by continuing the conversation and discussion on ways where their profession could bring hope to the people.

“The Lawyer’s Oath is no ordinary canonical incantation nor is it a routinary legal requirement. The Oath, far from being a sterile form of words, gives us the roadmap to action as lawyers and defines us, as a profession. In a very real sense, it is a definition of who we are and to what we have been called,” Sereno said.

She added that the Lawyer’s Oath carries the values of fidelity, commitment, integrity, courage; fidelity to the Philippine flag, the Constitution, the country’s laws and duly constituted authorities; commitment to the law and the values it seeks to uphold; integrity to practice law in an ethical manner, encompassing also self-restraint in not performing acts proscribed and the active witness of carrying out affirmatively the acts required; and the courage to be able to carry out all these faithfully and well.

Lawyers could also help bring suit to protect rights, when appropriate, according to Sereno.

In line with the theme, she said challenging the status quo “may mean that lawyers must occasionally confront traditions that may have taken root through inertia and, if necessary, create new traditions.”

“Do something noble, something good, something righteous, something different,” Sereno said.