IBP draws flak over award to Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) has drawn flak for its Davao City chapter’s conferment of the “Golden Pillar of Law” award on former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is awaiting trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for crimes against humanity.

Amid the indignation sparked by the award on Duterte, the IBP said it will review its rules for naming service awardees.

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News, IBP communications director Katrina Mordeno said the award does not mean the IBP supports the former president, who has been under the custody of the ICC since his arrest in March.

“The award was not meant to be a legal absolution or a moral endorsement,” Mordeno said. “It merely seeks to recognize a long career in the legal profession.”

She said the Golden Pillar of Law award was bestowed upon 600 members nationwide who have been in the legal profession for at least 50 years and are in “good standing.”

To qualify as a member of “good standing,” one must regularly pay membership dues and should not be under suspension, according to the group’s bylaws.

“We do not confer guilt or grace beyond the reach of law. Yet we know, too, that the law without conscience is hollow, and that practice of law without compassion is incomplete,” the IBP national office said in a statement.

“To this end, the IBP will review its recognition protocols to ensure that future honors reflect both integrity of service and fidelity to the ideals of justice. In doing so, we affirm that to honor service must never be to forget accountability, and that reflection within institutions is itself an act of justice,” it added.

The IBP’s chapter in Davao City conferred the award on Duterte along with 26 other members.

The IBP, according to Mordeno, acknowledges the “public’s moral concern” as Duterte had faced criticisms and even condemnation for disregarding human rights during his presidency.

“Accountability and recognition are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “The law tries to hold space for both.”

On Wednesday, the IBP Davao City defended its action, saying the legal community should “rise above biases,” as every person has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“The Golden Pillar of Law Award does not serve as an endorsement of political acts or personal ideologies,” the chapter noted. “It is a recognition of professional longevity and standing…applied without distinction and grounded on verifiable compliance with the rules governing the legal profession,” it pointed out.

But recognizing a “disconnect” in the IBP’s current mechanisms, the national organization of lawyers – Mordeno said – would be more prudent in carrying out its awards processes.

One of the recipients of the award, a retired Cebu judge, has decided to return his as an “expression of disappointment and disgust.”

In a letter to IBP national president Allan Panolong dated Oct. 10, retired judge Meinrado Paredes of the Cebu Regional Trial Court said that while he was grateful to the IBP for recognizing his “dedicated service to the legal profession and for upholding the ideals of justice, integrity and the rule of law for the past 50 years,” he could not accept the fact that the same recognition was given to Duterte.

Paredes, a former presiding judge, said he does not believe that Duterte has upheld the “ideals of justice, integrity and the rule of law,” which should be the basis for the conferment of the award, as stated in the plaque of recognition.

“His regime was characterized by the rule of the gun, not of law, as extrajudicial killings and other violations of human rights were rampant. He has blood debts. There is no rule of law if human beings are killed without due process,” Paredes said.

“There is no justice and due process if drug suspects are killed like stray dogs in the streets. He is the principal accused of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court,” he added.

“I am doing this in solidarity with the victims and their relatives of human rights violations,” Paredes said.

Edre Olalia, chairman of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, said the conferment of the award on Dutere was a disgrace. “No one else could be so undeserving,” he said. — Elizabeth Marcelo