Vice President Jejomar Binay INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
San Beda College has found a big defender in Vice President Jejomar Binay after a spokesperson of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo belittled the way the school teaches law to its students.
Binay, a University of the Philippines’ College of Law alumnus, said on Thursday that “some of the best minds” that ever graced the academe, legal profession, legislative department and even the Supreme Court were alumni of the school on historic Mendiola Street in Manila.
In contrast, Elena Bautista-Horn wondered about the kind of education that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and an immigration lawyer had received from San Beda because the two defied a Supreme Court order allowing the Arroyos to leave the country on November 15.
Horn said on November 16 over radio station dzMM that “maybe a different Constitution was being taught in San Beda because the two officials had a different interpretation of the law.”
Speaking during the San Beda law alumni homecoming at Club Filipino in San Juan City, Binay said “it is not only in high-profile public positions that we find distinguished San Beda alumni. They are everywhere—in the various layers and branches and agencies of government and the private sector.”
Celebrated names
The Vice President noted that “in the running headlines of today, some of the most celebrated names we read are those of Bedans, whether we are talking of current cases in the Supreme Court or the Commission on Elections.”
“To this day, Justice Florenz Regalado holds the unsurpassed record in our bar examinations. Justice Jose Vitug is unexcelled as the author of the great pandect on civil law. Justice Eduardo Nachura holds the rare distinction of having served all three branches of government, beginning as education undersecretary, moving on to congressman and finally capping his career as associate justice of the high tribunal,” Binay said.
At the Department of Justice, Binay said “we have Secretary Leila de Lima, who has in a very short time created a name and legal reputation for herself, while in the Comelec, we have Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr., who is out to prove that meaningful electoral reforms are possible and could hold the key to faster economic and social progress.”
Add to the list lawyer Raoul Creencia, the government’s corporate counsel.
Dedicated Bedans
“In the various agencies I head, whether as chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, presidential adviser on overseas Filipino concerns, chair emeritus of the Inter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking, or head of the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment, I have the privilege and pleasure of working with so many able and dedicated Bedans,” Binay said.
He said that “if Bedans seem to cut a high public profile these days, it is only because they are in the thick of the task of nation-building.
“This is as it should be. For we should be all in the thick of nation-building,” he said.
Virtues of More
In public service, “if there is someone we could all proudly proclaim as a model, one with the virtues of a Thomas More—minus, of course, the martyrdom, for he is still very much with us—is our good friend, former Senator Rene Saguisag, a patriot and true public servant, a champion of human rights,” Binay said.
“It was Rene who initiated me into the priceless volunteer work of Mabini, the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc., and beyond,” he added.
In the same class, the Vice President said: “We all remember our esteemed friend of happy memory, Raul Roco, who distinguished himself as a senator and later as secretary of education. He will remain in our memory and our affections as the passionate advocate of many advocacies and author of many important pieces of legislation.”
“Like Rene, Raul will be remembered for fighting hard for human rights, notably women’s rights. He fought valiantly for those rights to the point where our women had no choice but to confer upon him the title of ‘Honorary Woman,’ and he was proud to wear it. Many Bedan friends will continue to cherish Raul as one of the best presidents we never had,” he added.
In his remarks, Binay noted that “we are witnessing today some of the most important developments in our political life.”
“They concern all of us, our future, our present and our recent past,” he said.
Accountability
People can not be indifferent to these events, he said. “Our countrymen everywhere are drawn to them because they affect their personal lives, how they are to be governed at any point in their history and how they would subject the powerful to accounting while they are in power, and after they are out,” Binay said.
He said “the law is harsh, but it is the law. We must now enforce the law, no matter how harsh it is, especially when the common good cries for it, just as a physician must prescribe strong medicine if ever and whenever the patient needs it.”
“For as every lawyer knows, it is not enough for the state to be just. It must be seen to be just. And where the nation is divided on the justness of certain official acts, the opposing sides should be able to turn to us, lawyers, to assure them help and help them see where justice truly lies,” Binay added.