Ex-IIRC member voted next IBP president

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer Roan Libarios was chosen yesterday as the next president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in a special election that ended the 20-month vacuum in the leadership of the country’s premier lawyer’s group.

He was a member of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) that looked into the Aug. 23 hostage tragedy in Manila, where eight Hong Kong tourists were killed.

Libarios was unanimously voted by all nine governors of the IBP as their new national executive vice president (EVP). Currently the IBP governor for Eastern Mindanao, he won the election unopposed.

The IBP’s special poll was in compliance with the recent ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) that resolved the leadership vacuum in the IBP and barred lawyer Rogelio Vinluan from assuming the presidency.

Voting 8-2 with five justices inhibiting, the SC ruled that Vinluan and four other officers of the organization were guilty of grave professional misconduct during the hotly contested 2009 IBP elections.

As EVP, Libarios automatically becomes the president of the IBP under the rules and will take the place of retired Justice Santiago Kapunan, who had been designated by the Supreme Court (SC) as officer-in-charge of the organization until June 30 next year.

“With the trust given to me by all governors of the IBP, we will make IBP more relevant not only in our sector but in the community as a whole,” Libarios told The STAR over the phone immediately after his election.

The incoming IBP head also vowed to pursue programs that would carry out their group’s missions of “elevating standards of legal profession, improving the administration of justice and enable lawyers to discharge their public responsibilities more effectively.”

Libarios earned his law degree at the University of the Philippines, where he was editor-in-chief of the state university’s publication, the Philippine Collegian, from 1982 to 1983.

He also served as Agusan del Norte vice governor in 1992. Six years later, he was elected the province’s representative for the second district.

During his stint at the House of Representatives, he was part of the 11-member prosecution panel that handled the impeachment proceedings against then President Joseph Estrada, who was forced to step down from his post in January 2001.

Libarios is currently chairman and president of the Philippine Development Alternatives Foundation, Inc. He is married to Shellah Mortola Libarios. They have two children – Roan Victor and Roshida Sophia.

He was founding partner of LIBRA LAW, a general professional partnership that specializes in appellate practice.