De Lima commends 4 judges named Inquirer’s Filipinos of the Year

Sen. Leila De Lima.
(File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquier)

MANILA, Philippines — Opposition Sen. Leila de Lima lauded on Wednesday the four “courageous judges” honored as Filipinos of the Year 2018 by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, saying an independent judiciary rests largely on the “integrity, competence, and uprightness of its judges.”

“No society can call itself truly just and free without an independent judiciary. On the freedom of the courts depends so much the exercise of our liberties. On the moral authority of the judiciary relies so much of the quality of justice that we pursue,” De Lima said in a dispatch from Camp Crame.

“And, an independent judiciary rests largely on the integrity, competence and uprightness of its judges,” she added.

The Inquirer recently honored four “courageous judges” as Filipinos of the Year 2018. They were Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judges Rodolfo Azucena, Jr. of Caloocan City, Arlene Lirag Palabrica of Tagum City, Alexander Tamayo of Malolos City, and Andres Soriano of Makati City.

READ: How the Inquirer picked its Filipinos of the Year 2018

Azucena convicted three police officers for the “extrajudicial” killing of minor Kian delos Santos, while Palabrica ordered the immediate release of the group of activists led by Satur Ocampo and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, who were arrested by the military after visiting a Lumad school in Davao del Norte.

Tamayo, meanwhile, convicted former Major General Jovito Palparan and two subordinates for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan. Soriano denied the Department of Justice’s applications for an arrest warrant and hold-departure order against opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

The judges, the Inquirer said, were nominated for “rendering judgments that satisfy the people’s clamor for justice, at a time when key institutions or their stewards seem to be under political pressure or payroll.”

The senator underscored that judicial independence’s role as a “cornerstone of constitutional democracy” as it “assures freedom to the individual; it guarantees the right of determination and development of a people; it safeguards against the persecution and other abuses by the different branches and functionaries of government.”

“I, therefore, salute Hon. Judges Azucena, Palabrica, Tamayo and Soriano and others in their league. May your tribe truly increase! May you serve as exemplars and inspiration to workers in the public sector, diligently treating public office as a public trust, painstakingly striving to regain public confidence in our institutions, and valiantly asserting our democratic values and principles as a people,” she added. /jpv