LAWYERS have paid tribute to Senator Joker Arroyo whom they described as one with a great sense of humor, an intimidating presence and a “legal gladiator of his time.”
Atty. Edre Olalia of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said the late senator “was no joke.”
“He inspired voices in the wilderness amidst repression to take up the lonely but fulfilling road of standing by those against whom the bad side of the law was used,” Olalia said.
The late senator, a known human rights lawyer, was one of the three founders of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG).
Atty. Theodore Te, who became a member of FLAG after graduating from law school, described Arroyo as “sharp.”
“He knew almost instinctively, when an argument was good and when it was not. Chalk this up to the experience he had arguing before the martial law Supreme Court and the military tribunals. He also knew b—s—when he heard it and was not hesitant to call you out when he felt that was what your argument amounted to,” Te recalled in a post he posted on his Facebook account.
“He was intimidating. He had a way of asking questions that probed and probed deeply. And so there was no bluffing your way out,” Te said.
Te said while he did not agree with many positions Arroyo took while serving as Executive Secretary of the late President Corazon Aquino and while he was in Congress, “one thing you cannot take away from Joker: he did his part for people and country, and at a time when it was unfashionable and even extremely dangerous to do so.”
Olalia said Arroyo gave free legal service to many political prisoners and persecuted journalists during the martial law.
“He was part of the movement that overthrew the dictatorship and the US bases, vestiges of which remain to rear their ugly heads and continue to be resurrected by those rewriting history with blinders,” Olalia added.
On the other hand, Te said the late senator also knew how to have a good laugh.
He said Arroyo’s laugh is infectious.
Te said the last time he spoke to Arroyo was when the Senator called him at his office at the Supreme Court’s Information Office where they had a chat about current issues, pockets of analysis and anecdotes.
He said the conversation lasted for a good 15 minutes.
“Just before ending our conversation, he said, almost by way of an afterthought, why he had called in the first place, ‘Oh, the reason I called is I wanted to ask if I could have one of those calendars that you give to the judges; I like your calendars because they have big spaces that I can write on.’ Of course, I said yes. He thanked me and said he would call again soon. He ended the conversation in his usual way, almost fading out and still mumbling a few words until I heard the click of the receiver,” Te said.