Putting order to the IBP (Davide; de Vera)

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Putting order to the IBP
Sunday, 12 20, 2005

Today, Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. will hang up his magisterial robes, relinquish his chair as primus inter pares of a majestic and awesome institution, and quietly join the ranks of ordinary mortals in the legal profession. From his exalted position in the Supreme Court (SC), the Chief Justice will go back to his home province of Cebu, there to be counted as member of the local chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).

With the serene dignity that marked him during his term, the Chief Justice will doubtless retire from the Judiciary shunning the usual pomp and circumstance arranged by colleagues who are deeply and sincerely intent to send him off in a blaze of glory. If the Chief Justice runs true to form — and there is no reason to assume that he will not — his exit from the portals of the SC will be a smooth, almost imperceptible transition from justice to lawyer, a soothing segue into the brethren of lawyers he had supervised and disciplined during his watch over the Bar. But before he writes finis to this chapter of his illustrious career, history yet again offers him another sterling opportunity to etch his name in the pantheon of Philippine jurists if and when he resolves one issue that has bedeviled the legal profession the last six months: the matter of the presidency of the IBP.

Recall that sometime in June 2005 the internal calm of the IBP got roiled up by the petty politics instigated by a powerful clique that had no qualms about imposing its skewed will on the affairs of the IBP. In that clouded atmosphere that prevailed, lawyer Leonard de Vera was unceremoniously removed as governor, thereby depriving the lawyers from Eastern Mindanao their rightful representative in the IBP board of governors. With his removal as governor, De Vera thereby lost as well his position as executive vice president, an organizational standing he had to hold if he were to succeed the outgoing president. To make sure that De Vera does not assume the IBP presidency, his detractors, as added insurance, resurrected and recycled the charges brought against him when he ran for governor. The clique certainly left nothing to luck — or to De Vera’s galloping popularity among the IBP membership as a maverick and non-comformist. The removal of De Vera was not automatic. It needed the approval of the SC. The issue remains unresolved to date.

Although all along he thought he was one of them, De Vera simply was not acceptable to the powerful clique. In a season of great upheavals and grave issues to tackle, De Vera as IBP president simply would have been unpredictable for anyone to be comfortable with. After all, De Vera has that unsettling knack of bluntly calling a spade a spade, not “a sharp-pointed, metallic shoveling instrument.” With his candor and integrity, De Vera would not kowtow to anyone and compromise his precious principled stand on particular issues.

But to be sure, De Vera, despite further efforts to have him removed with finality from the ranks of the IBP, did not waver in the pursuit of his advocacies, as expected of a leading member of the IBP. His was the only hand that continued to wave the IBP flag against corruption and maladministration. When others finally found the courage to raise their new-found but overly delayed voice in the advocacies of the IBP, it was all too clear that they were merely playing for media mileage, and that De Vera was quietly but more effectively doing his job. Among his remarkably admirable achievements is the celebrated case where De Vera singlehandedly ground to mincemeat the decision of the court martial which tried Gen. Garcia, unmasking the connivance of that court with one of its own.

De Vera did not serve in full his two-year term as governor of the IBP for Eastern Mindanao. It took all of six months for the SC to resolve the issues lodged against De Vera’s eligibility. De Vera’s right to govern as IBP president has already been delayed for a similar period. In the matter of the IBP presidency, it is a summation devoutly to be wished that Chief Justice Davide will not allow that record to be broken, as a matter of fairness and simple justice to the members of the legal profession who have been waiting for the vindication of De Vera.

Soothing the roiled waters of the IBP could very well be the lasting legacy of Justice quondam and Attorney futuris Hilario Davide.

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