A believer in the majesty of the law

Some are late bloomers; others are fast-rising meteors. Those who bloom late, however, rise faster at a defining moment in their life. The meteors? Well, that’s why we have the phrase “meteoric rise,” because as soon as they scale the heights, they dive as quickly from the firmament and hit the ground of obscurity.

At first blush, we can say that Solicitor General Francis H. Jardeleza is a late bloomer. But that is not quite right. He is the kind of guy to whom you pose this question: “Where have you been hiding all these years?”

Francis has been in the limelight only since mid-2011 when he was appointed deputy ombudsman for Luzon. Then, after only seven months, he became the solicitor general in February 2012. Then, the public took notice.

Recently, he was nominated for the lofty post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by the most number of current and past deans of the College of Law of the University of the Philippines. Then, the public took notice again — nay, a closer scrutiny this time — of the man who could be the highest official of the third branch of the Philippine government.

Can we call this Francis’ defining moment? Defining moments come when a certain challenge confronts an individual at one chapter of his life, and that individual does not shrink from that encounter, crosses the line — and thus keeps his appointment with destiny.

Is the Supreme Court’s highest post a serendipitous moment for Francis, or is it a logical denouement, a fitting conclusion to a sure and steady career rise in the profession of law — marked by an excellent academic record, a sterling achievement in the Bar, and a rich and impressive career track in the most respected law firms and in one of the country’s biggest conglomerates?

It must be logic, then. He finished his bachelor of laws from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, and emerged salutatorian and cum laude. Then he placed third in the Bar examinations in 1974 with a general average of 88.35 percent. That’s nothing to sneeze at; some senators just got past 75 percent to 80 percent and are thankful they passed that last hurdle to become a barrister!

He went on to finish his master of laws at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and submitted a thesis titled “Toward a Recognition of the Special Function Model of Philippine Judicial Review.”

Bar topnotchers like him are lured to the best law offices of the land. So, Francis, the young lawyer joined ACCRALAW, short for Angara Abello Concepcion Regala and Cruz. He joined the law firm in 1975 and was made partner in only six years, in 1981. He was the only junior partner who became a member of both the litigation and corporate departments.

Soon, it was time to be on his own when he founded Jardeleza Sobrevinas Diaz Hayudini and Bodegon, where he began practicing labor law. Then, he went solo and established the Jardeleza Law Offices. In 1992, he joined Roco Bunag Kapunan Migallos and Jardeleza as partner. Again, he headed the litigation and labor law practice groups. That was the law firm of former Senator Raul Roco and former Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue Jojo Bunag.

Francis bade goodbye to independent law practice when he joined San Miguel Corporation as general counsel, supervising a battery of lawyers and managing the legal needs of eight SMC publicly-listed companies here and abroad.

His mastery of the law was also put to good use in his pro bono work. One case that briefly placed him in the headlines was his defense of a journalist in 1994, when he successfully secured a Supreme Court injunction to lift a hold-departure order on Maritess Danguilan-Vitug. His legal victory enabled Maritess to pursue a master’s degree in a United Kingdom-based university. He also defended a senator before the High Tribunal, also in 1994, on presidential veto powers over appropriation bills.

Francis, 62, is a mild-mannered man and, with his salt-and-pepper crown of hair — more salt actually — he strikes you as one fit for the academe. Actually, Francis is a noted professor in constitutional law, civil procedure and administrative law at the UP College of Law.  

He has given up teaching while serving the government, and it looks like he would serve our people longer.

Serving people is ingrained in the Jardeleza home. His father, a small town lawyer in Jaro, Iloilo, gives almost free legal services to small entrepreneurs like the town’s ferris wheel operator whose income goes up and down — yes, like his ferris wheel. It was also his father’s dream that son Francis would be a lawyer.

The son continues to honor such a dad’s dream. Right now, he is the government’s top lawyer as solicitor general. In the next couple of months, we will know if he is destined to realize a lawyer’s ultimate dream.   

The preparation of Francis is long and solid. When you view him against the other contenders for the Supreme Court’s highest post, the most balanced we can say is that he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with only the best and the brightest among them.  

What will distinguish one candidate from the other is one’s character, integrity, and independence — and these shall have been demonstrated in his scholastic and professional achievements and advocacies.

In the final analysis, the leader the country needs in the Highest Tribunal is one who uses justice to check the powerful. When some impose that might is right, the next Chief Justice must stand his ground among his fellow justices and declare in no uncertain terms that, in truth, “right is might.”

Francis has never been known as partisan. He always says that he believes in — and has proven in many cases — the majesty of the law. That’s a surefire formula to preserve the court’s independence. The relationship between and among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government need not be adversarial.

 They can agree on common and higher purposes of leading this country - and yet each one has a role to play to preserve the principle of checks and balances enshrined in the Philippine constitution.

A quotation from philosopher and physicist Blaise Pascal is appropriate for this discussion, which runs: “Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, whatever is powerful may be just.”

* * *

Correction on my column on portrait artists. The sculptor is Sajid Imao, not Hadji, and it’s Norberto Carating, not Caraing. So, what’s in a name? Plenty, if it’s spelled right.

* * *

My e-mail:dominitorrevillasgmail.com