Speech - Oath-taking of National President Feliciano M. Bautista and 18th Board of Governors
July 10, 2007

Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, the Honorable Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, friends, colleagues. Welcome and good afternoon.

Ladies & Gentlemen. I stand in front of you as the incoming President of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Before I say anything more, let me first acknowledge and congratulate outgoing IBP President Jovi Salazar and the outgoing IBP Board for a job well done. The IBP is a much better and stronger institution now.

We have had successful initiatives in the past years. Among them was E-IBP, which provides access and updates to new laws and jurisprudence through new media forms such as texting and the internet. We have increased collection of IBP dues. Significantly, on the area of legal advocacy, we have formed the Legal Network for Truthful Elections or LENTE, which has actively monitored the recently-concluded national elections. Atty. Salazar and the Board, along with IBP’s nationwide network of chapters and members, led these successful programs.

We will add to these successes, knowing fully that our role as lawyers imposes on us a heavy burden and a great duty to society.

If doctors protect our people from the ravages of diseases, then lawyers protect our people from the ravages of injustice. We all take pride that we are practicing the noble profession. More than a doctor who cures ailments of the body, a lawyer cures ailments of the system and ills of society. More than a teacher who teaches the young, a lawyer can teach and guide both young and old alike. Indeed, with great power comes great responsibility.

MAKING THE LAW RELEVANT TO THE PEOPLE

And that responsibility becomes our collective challenge. The challenge that I take, and hopefully the entire IBP takes during my watch, is to make the law and the legal profession more relevant and meaningful to the lives of our people.

As lawyers, we have become very accustomed and dare I say, very comfortable, with the fact that people come to us for legal redress. Whether we be private law practitioners, lawyers in government and the judiciary, or judges, justices and magistrates, people come to us. It is more of an exception, and definitely not a norm, that we go them and offer our expertise freely and voluntarily.

LEGAL AID ENHANCEMENT

Thus, our IBP will build on the gains of the previous leadership and expand our free legal aid services. We will strongly encourage particularly our young lawyers, to do legal volunteer work. I have always believed in what the great Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said about the life of the law not being logic but experience. Truly, to live the law in its truest and rawest sense it to experience how it affects the downtrodden and the abused among our fellow Filipinos. It is incumbent upon us to provide the poor and the powerless with a means by which they can obtain justice despite their limitations. In this regard, we will continue to strengthen our Legal Aid arm. In fact, every lawyer must be a legal aid lawyer.

We have a responsibility not only to future generations, but our own, especially to the disadvantaged and downtrodden, for while ideally Lady Justice should be blind to one’s station in life, the reality is somewhat harsher. They say the ones with less in life should have more in law; but the fact is those with less in life, when wronged, have very little means to rights those wrongs. Situations like these call for intervention, and it is incumbent upon us to provide the poor and the powerless with a means by which they can obtain justice despite their limitations. We will continue to improve our capacity to provide legal assistance to those who need it, but cannot afford it.
My dearest friends in the legal profession, we need to take a more active role in society. I am not proposing we become politicians or stake our names in public office, though we know this is the path many of our bright colleagues take. We can be equally effective if purely as lawyers, we reach out and address the legal and societal needs of our countrymen.

EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS

In this regard, the IBP will be very active in addressing the issue of extrajudicial killings and the protection of our people’s civil, political, social and economic rights. No person shall be eliminated because of his belief, political, religious or otherwise. In the same manner, the government has no moral and legal authority to prevent or silence people from expressing their beliefs that are perceived as criticisms against or challenges to government policies. As a matter of fact, our democracy will be strengthened with the free flow of divergent ideas. The IBP will be in the forefront of any advocacy towards this end. If we have to go to the streets to make emphatic our advocacy, we will do it. For after all the sovereign will of the people is the highest law of the land.

We are bearers of a huge mantle of responsibility in preserving and protecting the rights of every Filipino. We breath life into the Constitution as we fight for individual rights in court rooms every day across the country. We combat corruption and fraud in all areas of public and private life. Recently, we have stood guard at the gates of democracy and highlighted the inviolability of the right of suffrage and the sanctity of the electoral process. In the future, we need to constantly preserve the sanctity of the Constitution and protect if from unworthy assaults and challenges.

The great liberal and visionary democrat Alexis de Tocqueville said in 1835 that “I cannot believe that a republic could subsist if the influence of lawyers in public business did not increase in proportion to the power of the people.” Those words are still chillingly relevant in 2007. Truly as our democracy matures and as our people become more aware of their rights, the extent of our involvement as lawyers needs to be greater, more visible and more pronounced.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Parallel to the protection of our people’s civil political, social and economic rights, there is likewise a pressing need to protect the environment.

In the face of telling signs that our planet is beginning to succumb to our unrelenting abuse of the environment, we must do what we can to ensure that future generations do not suffer for the wrongs we have committed. The time to act is now, and we in the IBP will marshal our resources in an effort to protect the rights of our planet, for by doing so we also protect the rights of our children and their children to breathable air, drinkable water, and sustainable natural resources.

We will strengthen law enforcement efforts on basic Environmental Laws especially in the field of solid waste management and marine conservation laws. For this purpose, we will continue to work with other organizations to ensure that the Law, as a thinking tool, may help advance the goad of protecting the very sources of Life – of Land, Air, and Water (LAW). To operationalize our resolve, we will create an Environmental Legal Aid Unit in the IBP Legal Aid Office.

CLEANSING THE RANKS

I must admit these are all lofty aspirations. And we can never dream of fulfilling even half of our goals if we do not have a strong, united and competent Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Therefore, we must continue our efforts at internal reform. “Cleansing our ranks” and weeding out rotten and corrupt members” are such strong words, but if it comes to that, I as your IBP President, will not hesitate to confront these tasks head on.

The IBP must take a proactive role to weed out those in our ranks that have betrayed their oath, and insist on making a mockery of the Rule of Law. In this regard, the Supreme Court has a willing and able partner in the IBP, which, like the Court, will not countenance behavior unbecoming of members of the Bar.

We will likewise do our share to help the Court cull those in its fold who have betrayed the public’s trust. For too long many of us have remained silent in the face of corruption in our courts; some, unfortunately---by force of circumstance or by the lure of convenience---have become willing accomplices as justice has been compromised for ulterior consideration. We have seen how the Chief Justice has come down hard against the corrupt; we can do no less than aid the Court in its quest to identify those who do not deserve to don their judicial robes.

I consider this internal reform initiative a paramount concern and an unmistakable priority. Much as a litigant cannot come to court unless with clean hands, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines cannot offer itself up to the Filipino people unless it is a paragon of integrity and honesty.

REACHING OUT TO THE PROVINCIAL LAWYERS

Just as we vow to serve our people, so, too, do we commit to address the concerns of our members, especially those who practice in the provinces. While the more nationally-prominent of our members work in the busy boroughs of Makati and Ortigas, a vast majority of us still practice our profession in the provinces.

The challenge is for us to provide programs that will benefit even those who cannot go to our national office in Ortigas. In this respect, technology is critical in our efforts to reach out to all our members, near or far. We will continue to expand our text-messaging service, and continue improvements to our website so that no one is left behind with regard to information vital to the practice of law.

Myself coming from the province, I am humbled by the opportunity to serve our colleagues in this noble profession for the coming two years. Let my words here today be validated by the actions that I, with your fullest support and cooperation, we will be making for the days, months and years to come. We will be building on our past gains and present strengths. Truly, I stand on the shoulder of out giants – our legal luminaries, many of whom are here with us today.

Like all great journeys, we need to take a single small step. Dear friends and colleagues, let us TOGETHER take this important first step today. Thank you very much

Maraming Salamat po!