Honoring an exemplary lawyer

Near the close of the just past year, the Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma Foundation, Inc. (JCMPFI) bestowed the first Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma Award to former Sen. Jovito Salonga at the EDSA Shangrila Hotel. The Foundation cited his “unwavering stand against the martial law regime, valiantly defending the constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of press, speech and due process of law; his sterling leadership as Senate President and for being elected as number one Senator for three consecutive terms; his valuable contribution in the legal profession and good governance by authoring several significant legislative measures such as the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public officials, and the Anti-Plunder Law; and for unceasingly serving the country and the Filipino people by being chair of several cause-oriented groups.”

The award honors the memory and relives the spirit and ideas of the late Supreme Court Justice Palma, a “Woman of Firsts”: in the legal profession and champion of the cause of democracy, human rights, truth, freedom, and justice in the country.

Let me recount some of Justice Palma’s accomplishments. She was appointed by President Marcos to serve in the Court of Appeals, then as the first woman member of the Supreme Court. She served as assemblywoman at the Batasang Pambansa. She was not the type who would heed the saying, don’t bite the hand that feeds you - meaning, don’t say anything bad about the person who appointed you to the High Tribunal. Instead, she wrote decisions that baffled the powers-that-be, that demonstrated she was afraid of neither man nor beast as she fulfilled her task of rendering justice where it was needed. She then became actively involved in organizations that fought the dictatorship. When the late President Corazon Aquino became president, she appointed Justice Palma as president of the Constitutional Commission.

Her children and ardent admirers thought of honoring her memory by honoring, in turn, men and women who excel in the legal field and demonstrate good governance, integrity and leadership in civil society. They launched the award on July 4, 2008. The search was not easy, for who among the living legal luminaries could live up to the ideals of the ideal Justice Palma?

The list was long, and ended with the choice of Jovito Salonga, or Jovy, as friends call him. And the choice was excellent.

Foundation chair Mina Gabor described Jovy as having “exhibited uncommon courage, integrity, and excellence in the legal field. He has also promoted human rights, peace, social justice, and carried out humanitarian ideals.”

Dr. Florangel Rosary Braid, vice-chair, said she believed the Award could “inspire countless Filipinos who are dedicating their talents and energies in building a social, legal, and political system anchored on the principles of truth, honesty, compassion, and the rule of law.”

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Jovy writes in the final paragraph of his memoir, A Journey of Struggle and Hope, the following:

“True love of country, to paraphrase a great statesman, is not a short and frenzied burst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime - to the cause of genuine independence, individual freedom, and social justice.

“Independence, like freedom, is never granted, it is always asserted and affirmed. Its defense is an everyday endeavor — sometimes in the field of battle, oftentimes in the contest of conflicting wills and ideas. It is a daily struggle that may never end — for as long as we live.”

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Jovy was born in Pasig, Rizal, on June 22, 1920. He finished law at the University of the Philippines, topped the bar exams of 1944, obtained his master of laws in 1948 at the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his doctor of laws, honoris causa in 1949 at Yale Law School, in Connecticut. To date he has eight honoris causa doctorates.

He has served in Congress as congressman for the second district of Rizal, was elected No. l senator in 1965, 1971, and 1987, and was chosen by his peers as Senate president July 1987 to December 1991. He was the first chair of the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

Jovy has received many awards, all notable; these include the Aurora Aragon Quezon Peace Award, the Jose P. Laurel Award, 2000, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, 2007.

During his terms as senator, he constantly fought and exposed the anomalies perpetrated by Marcos and his henchmen. He authored in the Senate some of the most important laws with far-reaching effects: the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and the Anti-Coup d’etat Law. And the Anti-Plunder Act. He was imprisoned, without being told why, by Marcos. He fought against the retention of the US Military bases in the country.

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In his acceptance speech, the articulate, erudite honoree, age 89, said, “I am mindful of the honor and the traits I am expected to uphold — the values of truth, justice, legal, erudition, and humility. I hope the Foundation has not exaggerated my traits and the values I am supposed to embody — truth, justice and humility. . . I do not pretend to be erudite, but I am forever grateful for (this) first award of the Foundation.”

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The guest of honor and speaker at the JCMP awards night, former Supreme Court Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr., praised Justice Palma and Jovy Salonga. Of Jovy, he said, he “has fought physical and ideological wars for what seems to be most of his life; and yet he fights still as he watches over us public servants, lends his wisdom, and reason and experience to the Supreme Court as amicus curiae, and scrutinizes the nominees of the judiciary especially for the Supreme Court, as we should, to ensure its independence and integrity.”

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