Estrada mourns loss of Palma: ‘Pillar of democracy, rule of law’

Ousted President Joseph Estrada expressed great sadness over the demise of former Supreme Court justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, saying the country had lost one of its greatest pillars of democracy and the rule of law.

Speaking from detention in his Tanay, Rizal estate, Estrada said the Philippines had much to thank Palma for.

During Estrada’s short-lived administration Palma served as chairwoman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

"Under (Palma’s) able stewardship, the 1986 Constitutional Commission completed its mission of crafting a Constitution that embodied the hopes and dreams of a people liberated from years of repression," Estrada said in a media statement.

He credited Palma for redirecting the PCSO’s programs and objectives to make them more responsive to the needs of indigent Filipinos: "(Her) singular commitment to uplift the lives of millions of our needy countrymen revitalized the role of the PCSO as a bridge for positive change."

Palma, who died Monday at the age of 92, was one of several legal luminaries who said that Estrada’s ouster in the EDSA II people power uprising was not a victory for democracy.

In a treatise published in a major newspaper, Palma said "the 1987 Constitution suffered... when the ongoing impeachment of (Estrada) was unceremoniously disrupted and discontinued and the issues at hand were brought to the parliament of the streets. The rule of law was set aside and the rule of force prevailed."

Estrada said that while his "present circumstances render me unable to personally extend my condolences to all those who mourn Justice Muñoz—Palma’s passing," he counts himself "among those fortunate enough to have known her and worked with her. We have lost a great and noble Filipino whose life and times will be an intrinsic part of our heritage as a free and proud race."

At the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban said in his eulogy that Palma was the "judiciary’s spiritual mother."

During the necrological services held by retired and active SC justices at the high court’s session hall yesterday, Panganiban said that, being the "country’s first female prosecutor, first woman judge of the Court of First Instance and first female justice to sit on the Supreme Court," Palma had opened doors to other women, both in the bar and on the bench.

As attested to by the over 100 awards that she received, "Justice Muñoz-Palma was many things, all of them excellent and exemplary, to many people. For those of us who follow her footsteps in the judiciary, she was a spiritual mother," Panganiban said.

Palma became the country’s first female SC justice "in 1973, way ahead of the first woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court in 1981," he said. "Typically, she did not ascribe her achievements to her own merits. She wrote: ‘It was a fate bestowed upon me by the Almighty God for me to be a humble instrument in breaking the barriers of tradition in the field of law, more particularly in the judicial branch of our government, which is tasked to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land and protect and defend the rights and liberties of the people.’"

Panganiban said that, as a child, Palma had been placed by her mother under the care of the latter’s favorite saint, St. Therese.

"The mother’s love for this saint of our times was continued by the daughter so doggedly and palpably that, at one point in her life, she entertained thoughts of taking up the veil and entering the nunnery," Panganiban said. "Happily for the nation and the judiciary, destiny did not bring Justice Muñoz-Palma to the seclusion of a convent."

He also said Palma’s exemplary and inspiring love and service to both the nation and the judiciary had made her as immortal as the stars: "In the words of the Good Book, they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that lead many to justice as the stars for ever and ever."

He said that Palma had also been "an inspiration, a magisterial model of independence, integrity, industry and intelligence" — the model of "what a judge, male or female, should be."

"Who could forget her ringing declaration, in the dark days of martial law, that her oath of office as a member of the Supreme Court was an oath of loyalty to the Constitution, to justice, and to the people — not an oath of fealty to the appointing power? A more precise declaration of judicial independence I have yet to hear," Panganiban said, adding that integrity in a judge is more than mere honesty.

"Just as it encompasses impartiality, so does a magistrate’s integrity include such virtues as moral courage, intellectual decency and a deep sense of personal honor, all transcending a desire for personal acclaim or recognition," he said.

"Coincidentally or not, it was the Bantay Katarungan chairperson himself, former Senate president Jovito Salonga, who described her (Palma) as (a person) with a rare intellect (and as someone) endowed with exemplary moral courage, which in the words of Winston Churchill is the one virtue which makes all other virtues possible," he said.

He lauded Palma because she "continued to heed the call of public service even after retiring from the Court. (Her) last public office was that of (PCSO) chairperson, from which she resigned on Feb. 1, 2000, at the age of 86. Would any of us here today be equally as hard-working as (Palma)?"

He also said the present-day judiciary could be considered part of Palma’s handiwork, because she chaired the Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution which provided for the judiciary’s present structure and powers.

He said Palma was fiercely protective and nurturing of the judiciary as only a mother could be, quoting from Palma’s book "The Mirror of My Soul": "It is of primordial importance... for our survival as a free people that we maintain our faith and trust in the Supreme Court as the indispensable institution that can and will ensure justice, freedom and lasting peace for the Filipino nation. The challenge of the Supreme Court, of course, is to live up to the faith and trust of the people."

Palma, he added, "was a woman of deep spirituality, concerned with the soul, which is eternal. As high school valedictorian of St. Scholastica’s College, Manila in 1931, she delivered the valedictory address titled Golgotha. There she said that, whatever our individual ambitions and aspirations, only one goal, one direction, should guide us — the cross of Golgotha, on which the crucified and risen Christ was the inspiration and model."

Former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. said Palma "broke new ground in the judiciary and the legal profession. She was first in many things. She was a moral genius."

Former Supreme Court justices Flerida Ruth Romero, Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) chancellor Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera, and Carolina Grino-Aquino said Palma had been their guiding star and inspiration to become justices.

"She was an exemplary public servant, an outspoken and articulate defender of rights. She never minded if her position was unpopular," Romero said. — Jose Rodel Clapano