‘Choose justice over money, court wins’
ASSOCIATE Justice Gabriel Ingles of the Court of Appeals in Cebu City condemned in a speech lawyers who are more concerned about earning money than doing justice and “destroy the legal profession even if they may be the minority.”
“Our profession used to be regarded as one of the noblest, if not the noblest profession in the world because our paramount concern is to obtain justice,” the judge said.
“But the perception seemed to have changed because a number of us are more concerned about how much is earned from the practice (and) are obsessed about winning at all costs even at the expense of justice.”
Ingles didn’t mention names but got the attention of colleagues who attended the turnover ceremony and induction of the newly-elected officers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City Chapter last June 3.
Ingles, once president of the IBP Cebu City Chapter, urged lawyers to be moral at all times.
Ingles always stressed the importance of judicial indepence both in “fact and the public’s perception.”
Article continues after this advertisementIngles is one of four judges in Cebu City who waived their monthly stipend from the Capitol two years ago.
He also declined to accept an honorarium from Pinamungahan town and a monthly allowance from Toledo City. /Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol
