Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao (Photo from the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
MANILA, Philippines — Lawyers should act as “frontline soldiers” in safeguarding the public’s legal rights and in upholding the rule of law.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao made this call last June 29 in Dipolog City in a speech he delivered as the guest of honor at the 50th Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Western Mindanao Regional Convention.
“My beloved pañeros y pañeras, I urge you to consider yourselves as frontline soldiers in the battlefield, who must fight mightily, even sacrificially, in the protection of rights and defense of the law,” Dimaampao said as quoted in a statement issued on Monday by the Public Information Office of the Supreme Court.
“This is the only way you can achieve an approximation of God’s justice here on earth. For it is said that what you do for the least of your brethren, you do it also to Him,” he added.
Dimaampao noted the efforts of the IBP in extending legal assistance to those in need, commending those who “willingly commit themselves to this worthy endeavor.”
Dimaampao is the second Moro to be appointed as Supreme Court Associate Justice.