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S,\Gtl$S,&G C A T E

san Beda Alabangl Human Rights Elective Dec. 14, zo1g

I got word from the office of Dean Bagyo, eeer, Ulan, that
we won't have any available classroom tomorrow cuz the rooms
would be used for shindigs by studes in a land of party animals.

He suggested that we just send our assignments to his

office, here, by email. So, efo,

I was in the office of the city prosecutor in parafraque to-

day and aside from the weird traffic, we spend/waste so much
time in pix-taking. we are a Kodakan nation and in general heed
walter Hagen's exhortation, not to hurry, not to worry, and go,
f ind the time to stop and smell the ftowers. we
may be spending
/wasting too much time in traffic and our [Link] pix-tal<ing-.

I am concerned about our arguable lacl< of study and worl<

eth ic.

A culture shocl<er for me in early 1g6g was finding myself

in a Harvard Law classroom on Good Fridayl

My mantras are proper preparation prevent poor perform_

ance (five Ps), Failing to prepare is preparing to Fail (FppF) and do
the Right Thing at the Right Time in the Right way in the Right
Place for the Right Reason (five R,s).

You are expected to read my Friday TGIF column in the

Manila Times for its human rights dimension (like today), which
I also hope you will take to heart as well as in reading
or. kno*inf
about widely-reported developments with a human iigl-,t, angle.
we live at a time when our teaders are seen to disresp..t human
life and dignity. Sad. Mga Bedista pa naman,
UIOGD/OEL/NSSP2

' BUANG - Bangsa Ulan Autonomous Nation of Guapos/pas

' tJt in omnibus gtorificetur Dei, Ora et labora, Not
self but country.

4045 Bigasan St., Palanan, Makati City 1235 Philippines . Tel. 8314279; 8334140 , Fax No. (6321s31-2276. E-mail: ravslaw@[Link]
 PASSION FOR JUSTICE
Justice Pompeyo Diaz's 1982 Commencement Speech in the finest law
school in the entire Rockwell Complex.
We are not here to celebrate the successful ending of your course in
the law. We are here to send you on your way because from here, you will
commence your profession in the law. We hold these commencement exerci-
ses, therefore, to say good-byeto you and to wish you well on your journey.
The closer a man approaches the sunset of his years, the more often
his mind returns ta the remembrance of things past. For to every man, if he
lives long enough, there comes a point in life when he realizes, not without
sadness, that there may no longer be time to climb new mountains. And that
is when dreams begin to yield to memories as if reliving the past will
somehow fill the void left by the flight of dreams.
It is more than fifty years since I sat where you sit now, an acolyte at
the altar of the law. But the lengthening shadows of life only make the
recollection of it as fresh and clear as if it were only yesterday.
I was given the privilege of addressing you one last time. I will do so,
no longer as your teacher, but as a friend. But let me take a vantage point
from which I can stpeak with some candor. As your own sun is rising in the
east, mine has long since passed the point of high noon, and in the gathering
dusk, I see you within the perspective of time. There are landmarks which
I have beheld but which are still hidden from your view.
Some forty vears ago, I took my oath of office as Judge of the Court
of First instance of the Province of Rizal in the chambers of a Justice of the
Supreme Court. This was my first appointment to the bench. You know I
had several. lt was an occasion for deep pride in my family especially when
the appointee was hardly thirty-five years of age and the Justice adminis-
tering the oath to him happened to be his own father.
After the oath-taking, my father took me in his own car and drove me
to the courthouse in Pasig. He led me into the building, up the stairs to the
second floor, and walked with me to the door of the sala which would now
be mine. He stood by the door and let me enter alone. I did, and I went
straigltt to my desk. There I saw a piece of paper ttpon which were written
in Latin, in my father's own handwrit-ing, those awesome words which must
have shaken the walls of the Senate of ancient Rome: "let Justice be done,
though the heavens fall." [Fiat justitia ruat caelum. - RAVS]
ln a lifetime devoted to the study of the law, these words still do not
fail to stir up in me emotions which should have long since been spent,
memories which should have long since been put to sleep, questions which
should have long since been laid aside. What is the law? What is the truth?
What is justice? lt is to render to each man what is his due. What is
the truth? lt is that which you seek, and keep on seeking, so that you may
render to each man what is his due. What is law? lt is the instrument by
which you discover that which you have been seeking so that you mav
render to each man what is his due.
 The answers seem such simple directives for-everyone to
follow. The
reality, however, is different. For, the law may be twisted to hide
the truth
in the same way that the truth may be distorted to ridicule justice. There
are
men in any society who are so self-serving that they try to make the
law
serve their selfish ends. ln this group of men, the most dangerous is
the man
of the law who has no conscience. He has, in the arsenat of his knowledge,
the very tools with which he can poison and disrupt society ancl bring it
to
an ignoble end. Against such a man, you ntust be fearless and
indomitable,
since to grant him victory is to deny yourselves the sanctity of your
oath and
the grandeur of your vision.
such men I have met in my tifetime, both in the courtroom, and
outside it. Society's declared protection against such predators is the
court
of law before which all men are presumed to stand equal, whether mighty
or weak. The integrity of the court is the foundation upon which a just
society is established. without this integrity, the vicissitudes of history witt
blow society towards the treacherous reefs of destruction and suck it into
the whirlpool of oblivion.
A man of the law with a conscience, on the other hand, is the means
by which a nation fashions for itself a just, orderly and civilized society,
where the least of its citizens can stand proud in his human dignity, and
where iustice is the yardstick by which the citizen measures himself in his
relationship with others and with his God.
Yet, a man of the law shourd have more than just a conscience.
Conscience, too, can be dulted by exigencies in one,s tife. He may just seek
a livelihood from the law. Then, no matter how financiatty succ-essful he
becomes, and no matter how much expertise he acquires in the law and its
practice, he remains no more than a craftsman. He rises no higher than the
humble plumber or mechanic from whom we expect nothintg beyond an
honest day's work and an honest charge for work performed, ind to whom
we would not dream of looking for leadership, guidance, and inspiration. He
reduces law to a trade and himself to a mere huckster of legal skilts.
What a nlan of the law should possess /s a passion for the truth, a
passion for iustice. This passion shoutd be of such a magnitude as to give
him the power to stand firm when those around him seem to be going mad.
It should be of such solidity as to grant him the strength to stand alone
when all else is turning into dust. lt should be of such perseverance as to
infuse him with a loneliness that only those who have a vision can endure.
It is a passion to keep alive that eternal challenge that justice must be done
whatever be the cost.
You are not only men of the raw. you are men of vision. undertying
all that you have learned here at the Ateneo is the never-ending theme of
passion for the truth, of passion for justice. Your vision is forged here, and
that vision is what makes you unique among your peers. \bu do not know
yet what life has in store for you, but never sacrifice your vision on the altar
of expediency. For without this vision, you shall become hollow inside, you
shall become men without souls preying on the innocence anct helptessness
of your fellowmen. You shall become the Ltnscrupulous auctianeers of history
whose honor is on the block, ready to go to the highest bidd,er
,t
 n.-.t
un t)e other hand, it' truiy \rou rernain faithfui to your vision, ttren you
are a boon to society. you will gaze without favor upon your
[Link],
sifting through facts to arrive at the truth to render justice. The
mighty ant!
the weak shall stand naked before you, for they sharl draw
stren"gth from
your knowledge of the law and from your commitment
to the truth. Then
and only then shalliustice truly prevail and upon this earth
will shine a piece
of heaven. For, what is iustice but an attribute of God Himsetf?
walk firm, therefore, and watk with courage, upon this path you
have
chosen' Let yattr ttision guide you. The law is i nobte profession,
and it is
professed by noble men. see to it that you earn that
nobitity by acting as
your fellowman's shield and protector against injustice
anc{ oppiession.
As future lawyers, you have your tasks cut out for yotu. you need
have no fear that they will prove too much for you if, in takin'g
them up, you
bear always in mind that doubt is the beginninig of wisdom,lhut humitity
is
the grace of the wise, that compassion is the uitu" of the
strong and, above,
all, that reason is the life of the law, and that the service of juslice, which
is
nothing more than the search for the truth, is one of man's noblest
achievements.
Farewelll ll,(ay you always, in your quest for a better world, wal/< in
the shadow of Him who gave you life and honor.
For next weel<, prease find the time, reisure time,jto read rhe
case
of the speluncean Explorers,2 given the breath-tal<ing mid-201g Thai
rescue.
l'll discr,rss r;ertain ground rules.
UIOGD/OEL/NSSP
\W
IV
47
\+'\
' "[TJhat rarest commodity in . . . academic life: leisure: By leisure lmean, of
course' the chance to read and reflect without the pressure
commitment to being, or pretending to be, useful.
of any immediate
Law viii (7 964).
.'., L. Fuller, Tlle Moralitv of

' 62 Harv. L. Rev. 67 6 (/ g4g)