Rest in peace, Sen. Jovy.
-------------
by Ted Te, Thursday, March 10, 2016
…. Bar topnotcher in 1944 (95.3%, tied with his friend
and ally Jose W. Diokno) with a law degree from the University of the
Philippines, a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School, and a Doctorate in Law
from Yale University with a Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa from the U.P.
Topnotcher in three senate races, pre-Martial law (1965), post-Plaza Miranda
(1971) and post-EDSA (1987). First PCGG Chair. Former Senate President.
Principal author of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Government
Workers, the law definining coup d’etat as a felony, and the law defining
plunder as a crime, and many others. One of the magnificent 12 who voted to
kick out the U.S. bases in 1991 (unforgettable image: Ka Jovy intoning “The
treaty is defeated.”)
I am privileged to have met and worked with Jovito R.
Salonga in my lifetime…. He wanted to meet to discuss his latest brainchild,
Bantay Katarungan, a judiciary watchdog that would screen nominations for the
judiciary; this was the concrete expression of his belief that judiciary
aspirants must be a cut above the rest in terms of competence, professionalism
and integrity, especially on integrity. I and the Robin-to-his-Batman Emil
Capulong would meet for many hours discussing his thoughts on how to realize
this dream. Much later, this dream would be realized; I would join him for some
training sessions involving law students who would serve as monitors. He would
later make me an offer to work full-time for Bantay but because I was then neck
deep in my advocacy against the death penalty and was handling so many death
penalty appeals, I had to decline the offer. I gave him some names and he did
consider them, inviting some of them to work for Bantay in the days and years
to come….
His human body, ravaged by injuries from the Plaza
Miranda bombing and later by illness, kept him from participating for many
years in public life; for practically a generation, his name drew no recall.
But for those of us fortunate enough to have witnessed this giant among us, his
name would always summon memories of a time when a life was a light and that
light shone brightly. His passing diminishes us all. He was the last of the greats. Today, he
enters immortality.
Paalam, Ka Jovy. Mabuhay ka!
RIP, ex-Senate president Jovito Salonga. A man of courage
and integrity, my idol. Born of poor parents, he worked his way to get the best
education possible given his circumstances, was imprisoned and tortured by the
Japanese during World War II for helping his compatriots, exposed Marcos' abuses
and the start of cronyism in the late 1960s, survived the Plaza Miranda bombing
in 1971, survived Martial Law, ran after Marcos' ill-gotten wealth as first
head of the PCGG, steered the first post-EDSA Senate through several coup
attempts, and publicly opposed Cory Aquino on the US military bases issue. I
remember how we rallyists danced in the rain after his last vote locked in the
decision to kick out the US military bases in 1991.
For the younger generation,
if you want to know more about him and his contributions to nation-building, I
suggest you read his memoir "A Journey of Struggle and Hope." Pay
close attention to Chapter VIII-The Start of the Marcos Era, Chapter
IX-Militarization and the Amassing of Hidden Wealth, and the tragic Chapter XI-The
Plaza Miranda Bombing.
I join a grateful nation in celebrating your life, sir.
May we and the succeeding generations of Filipinos always remember your words:
"Independence, like freedom, is never granted; it is always asserted and
affirmed. Its defense is an everyday endeavor--sometimes in the field of
battle, oftentimes in the contest of conflicting wills and ideas. It is a daily
struggle that may never end--for as long as we live."
(3) Jovito Salonga lecture at UP Diliman, “Good
Government”, July 3, 1962.
What is a good government? Is it necessarily a government
where the mass of public servants are honest and efficient? To my mind, this is
not enough for in Italy and Germany during the war years, the great many were
honest and efficient. In fact, during the tragic days of Mussolini, the trains
in Italy ran on time as never before. The Nazi concentration camp system in
Germany was a model of hideous efficiency, It may well be that in Soviet Russia
today, the bulk of public servants are honest, dedicated and efficient— even
more so than in many places in the free world.
And so, when we talk about Good Government, we should be
careful when we discuss it in the context of a free society of free men. In
such a society, the law is more than just a set of rules and decrees; it is a
system of ordered liberty.
Now, that would involve us, it would seem, in some kind
of internal contradiction. Order and liberty are concepts that are apparently
inconsistent, when vou have nothing but order, you have the makings of a
garrison state and may eventually achieve what has been correctly phrased as
"the unanimity of the graveyard.” When you have nothing but liberty, so that
everyone is free to do what he pleases, you have no more and no less than
anarchy and chaos. The eventual result is the rule of the strong over the weak—
which means loss of liberty itself. One is just as bad as the other....
------------See also:
Rule of Law 23: RoL Index 2014 by the World Justice Project, July 02, 2014
Rule of Law 24: Policemen as Violators of Traffic Rules, September 15, 2014
Rule of Law 24: Policemen as Violators of Traffic Rules, September 15, 2014
Rule of Law 25: Corruption in Europe, December 21, 2015
BWorld 37, World rule of law index and the Philippines, January 11, 2016
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