‘Ipaglaban Mo’: The highs and laws

Case #1: A spurned lover rapes a woman, now married to another guy. She gets pregnant. Now comes the gnawing question: Who’s the father of the child she’s carrying?

Case #2: Boy meets girl, they get married, and they have a son. Twelve years later, girl discovers boy is dating another boy. Is the marriage null and void (invalid)?

Case #3: A man catches his wife in bed with another man, literally with his pants down. Husband kills wife’s lover. Is he going to jail?

Case #4: A woman’s lover kills her fortysomething husband. The twentysomething wife is implicated in the plot to kill her husband. Will she end up in jail, too?

These are just some of the dramatic cases that the dynamic father-and-son team of Jose Sison and Jopet Sison, both brilliant lawyers, has tackled these past many years on their awardwinning TV show Kapag nasa Katwiran … Ipaglaban Mo! that started airing on IBC 13 back in 1989.  Over the years, we’ve gnashed our teeth, wiped a tear, sat at the edge of our seats, collectively held our breath, and  heaved a long sigh of relief as we watch many a gripping true-to-life drama unfold on Ipaglaban Mo right in our living rooms.

Now, wouldn’t you like to know how the foregoing cases played out?

In Case #1, the Supreme Court ruled that the child the woman was carrying was her husband’s.

In Case #2, the court granted the couple legal separation, but there was no declaration of nullity (meaning there was no marriage from the very beginning) because the guy did not conceal his being gay from the onset of the marriage and there was no intent to deceive; even before they got married, she already had some inkling that the man of her dreams could be a woman.

In Case #3, the husband did not go to prison. Because of a justifying circumstance (passion), he was merely not allowed to go to a certain area.

In Case #4, the wife’s lover ended up in the slammer, but the wife was acquitted because the conspiracy was not proven. As this case will be aired two Saturdays from now, Jopet turns to his dad and says in jest, “You should not have told the ending so they would watch.”

Lights, camera, drama!

Ipaglaban Mo, one of the longest running top-rated public service programs on TV, became popular by word of mouth because of the educational value it imparted in the form of an enlightening and entertaining drama anthology of cases decided by the Supreme Court (SC).

Still a student when the show started airing, Jopet was inspired by his dad’s work and would tag along during tapings. “The stories aired initially were about family relation cases,” he relates. “Of course, you’d learn that these would be the issues, these would be the events that would transpire, and these would be the endings; eventually, you’d learn how to relate with the family members likewise because of the lessons.”

 â€œThere are so many dramatic cases that hit so close to home,” says Atty. Jose Sison. “Maraming stories — love triangle, fights among heirs over inheritance, cases of infidelity, adultery, concubinage, mostly in the upper crust of society. As for the lower income classes, the more dramatic stories are those involving labor disputes — employer-employee relations, unfair labor practices, illegal dismissals.”

There are many cases of incest involving fathers and daughters. “This happens usually in the provinces where people live in cramped houses and the kids dress and undress in one room, and where there’s no electricity and no means of recreation,” Atty. Sison tells us.

And then there are the annulment cases and other cases involving showbiz personalities. Like the case of a popular showbiz couple who got an annulment years ago on the grounds of “psychological incapacity.” Another sensational showbiz case had to do with adopting an illegitimate child so that he would have the same rights as the legitimate heirs.

The show renders public service as it informs the Filipino people, especially the masses, of the various laws of the land applicable to their everyday lives as depicted in actual SC cases, thus enabling them to become law-abiding citizens and responsible members of society.

“It is a different TV legal show in the sense that the stories are based on facts already determined by the courts from the evidence presented during the trial, and not merely on the versions given by the viewers or by parties to cases still pending in court or under investigation,” Atty Sison points out. “It is also different in the sense that the legal answers to the stories presented come not from the opinions of the host lawyers but from the decisions of the SC which are already considered as part of the law of the land. If the opinions come from the lawyers, we have 44,000 lawyers so there’ll be 44,000 opinions.”

Ipaglaban Mo is an adaptation of the various cases reported in Atty. Sison’s long-running column “A Law Each Day” that appears in The Philippine STAR. His column is so popular among law students and lawyers who even cite it when they appear in the lower courts. Of course, the judge can’t say anything because these are cases already decided by the Supreme Court.

The format and style of this column was actually the idea of the late Philippine STAR publisher/founding chairman Betty Go-Belmonte who wanted the SC cases reported in the column to be couched in common language with simplicity, clarity, and charity so as to be easily absorbed not only by lawyers but by ordinary people as well.

Making waves on the airwaves, too

It was the late newscaster Jose Mari Velez who saw the potential of “A Law Each Day” becoming a TV show because of its common touch and the easily understandable manner in which the highly technical decisions of the SC were presented.

After a successful 10-year run, the show went off the air and was resumed only in November last year. The show currently airs every Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on GMA 7 News TV. Still hosting the show are Atty. Jose C. Sison, assisted by his son Jopet Sison. To make it even more interesting, informative, and riveting, the dramatization of the cases is now at a faster pace lasting only 30 minutes instead of the previous one-hour show. The latest decided cases are depicted amid modern settings and backdrops.

The weekly TV show had its maiden episode on November 20, 1989 at 9 p.m. on IBC 13.  It starred young actors Richard Gomez and Dina Bonnevie under the direction of the renowned Peque Gallaga and Lorenzo Reyes. The next episode starred Jaclyn Jose, Jimmy Santos, and Tirso Cruz III, directed by Carlitos Siguion Reyna. After that, Nick Lizaso, an incumbent commissioner of the National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCCA), took over and directed most of the episodes on the show.

Because of its mass appeal, a daily five-minute legal vignette entitled Ikaw at ang Batas was also developed and shown during the 5 p.m. balita on IBC 13. This was a shortened version of the weekly program with some reenactments of the established facts. Later on, both shows were transferred to Channel 9 until it was station produced by ABS-CBN Channel 2 in the early ’90s. Since then, Ipaglaban Mo was aired every Sunday for one hour starting 2:30 p.m. while Ikaw at ang Batas was aired daily, Monday to Friday, as part of Hoy Gising, another hit show on the same network, hosted by Ted Failon and Korina Sanchez.

At the 18th Catholic Mass Media Awards, the show won the  St. Lorenzo Ruiz Award for Television, particularly the episode entitled “Karahasan o Kamangmangan,”  for “serving God and the Filipino people by promoting human values through the mass media.”  

With its huge mass appeal, ABS-CBN, through sister company Star Cinema, decided to produce two movies also adapted from sensational cases reported in The Philippine STAR column. Two movies were produced portraying several cases and starring topnotch performers Nida Blanca, Ronaldo Valdez, Subas Hererero, Joel Torre, Ricky Davao, Gina Alajar, Chin Chin Gutierrez, Marianne de la Riva, and Marvin Agustin. Directing the movies were well-known film makers like the late Marilou Diaz Abaya, Nick Lizaso, Rolando Quintos, and Carlitos Siguion-Reyna.

The line producer of the new episodes aired on GMA 7 News TV is Heaven’s Best Production headed by the energetic and dedicated young man Hero Bautista, son of movie director and former Quezon City councilor Butch Bautista.

The first episode, entitled “Haligi ng Tahanan,” was about the custody battle between the grandparents and the father of a child whose mother died while giving birth. Of course, the child was awarded by the court to the father who was an ordinary laborer. But the happier ending was that the wealthy grandparents helped support the child.

Off the air, the office of Atty. Jose Sison and Atty. Jopet Sison in Greenhills is a veritable refuge for people seeking solutions to assorted legal problems. Jopet relates, “There was a time when we’d have four or five walk-in clients seeking legal advice; we had to limit the free legal advice to one day of the week so we could leave some portions of the week for work at the office where we handle all sorts of cases — from civil to criminal cases to simple ones like change of name, what family name to adopt if you’re an illegitimate child.”

Out of the limelight and out of the office, Jose and Jopet are simply devoted family men. Jose is married to Josefina Sampedro Sison; their union was blessed with one daughter and five sons. The couple now has 14 grandsons and two granddaughters. Himself a father, Jopet has three wonderful sons. For the growing Sison family, Sunday isn’t complete without the requisite family lunch.

And certainly, for the older members of this family, Saturday won’t be complete without sitting in front of the telly to watch yet another heartrending drama unfold on Ipaglaban Mo.

Once more, with feeling: Kapag nasa katwiran … ipaglaban mo!