The granting of presidential pardon to deposed and convicted President Joseph Estrada brought to mind the men and women who had in one way or another figured in some aspects of his prosecution. One of those legal luminaries is former Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Narciso S. Nario, chair of the 4th Division of the Court tasked to try government officials committing graft and corruption and heinous crimes, and currently member of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
As chair of the 4th Division, it was Nario who signed Estrada’s first warrant of arrest for perjury. (The two other members of the division were Justices Rodolfo G. Palattao and Nicodemo Ferrer.) Estrada appeared before Nario’s office for fingerprinting, and his lawyers had made the request that the fingerprinting in the four other Sandiganbayan divisions be made in Nario’s office. But the Ombudsman, Francis Garchitorena, turned down the request, and the trips to the other division offices had to be made.
Before Estrada left the Sandigan-bayan, Nario also signed the order of Estrada’s release on account of his having paid the bail bond.
Today, Nario is often asked if it was right that Estrada was granted presidential pardon. A soft-spoken and unassuming man, he says softly, “That is the exclusive prerogative of the President.”
Nario has been in public service under different presidents of the land — from Ferdinand Marcos (as assemblyman) to Fidel V. Ramos (as executive liaison officer and Sandiganbayan justice) and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (as Sandiganbayan justice and PCGG Commissioner). In these capacities, he admits, he has given his best.
Justice Nario’s life story is something to write about.
He was born on Oct. 29, 1932 to a farmer and a housewife in a remote barrio called Talabutab Sur in Nueva Ecija. He was an honor and dutiful student, who, for lack of resources, had to work as a houseboy for lawyer Jose Dacquel in Cuyapo, and bus cleaner and dishwasher when he was in college in Manila.
He obtained his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1957. His first job as a practicing lawyer was as an assistant in the office of his former benefactor, Dacquel. Interestingly, his first case was defending his father, who was then a barrio lieutenant who had punched and caused to be blind a troublemaker who had attacked him. Narsing’s defense that his father had committed the act “in the fulfillment of a duty” was sustained by the court and led to his father’s acquittal.
Nario later joined the Agricultural Tenancy Commission, whose principal mission was to implement R.A. 3844 or the Land Reform Code, the centerpiece of President Diosdado Macapagal’s administration. In 1965, he joined Nueva Ecija Gov. Eduardo Joson’s legal staff to help provide free legal assistance to marginalized farmers. Narsing won all tenants’ cases he handled.
His first foray into politics was running and winning as provincial board member in the 1971 election. This was followed by his election in 1978 to the Interim Batasang Pambansa.
Nario proudly recounts that he authored the bill that nationalized public high schools in his province, thereby allowing all students not to pay tuition fees. The other assemblymen followed with their bills, resulting in free fees in all public high schools in the country.
He was elected vice-governor in 1988, and became governor when Gov. Eduardo L. Joson died in 1990. During his two years as governor, he was close to his constituents, and his slogan was, “Ang nanunungkulan ay utusan ng bayan na dapat maglingkod at hindi pagling-kuran” (Those in public office must serve as servants and not be served). He lost in the 1992 gubernatorial elections, however.
He quietly went back to private law practice, but, recognizing Nario’s integrity and rapport with constituents and clients, President Fidel V. Ramos appointed him presidential legislative adviser and head of the Presidential Legislative and Liaison Office (PLLO), with Cabinet rank.
He was in his elements at this office, as he made legislators aware of status of the House bills, and arranged meetings between President Ramos and senators and congressmen to fast track the passage of administration bills. His job, therefore, was to facilitate “a harmonious relationship” between the executive and legislative branches of government. As a result, Nario says, “We had the most number of economic bills passed during the Ramos administration.”
In 1997, Nario was appointed justice of the Sandiganbayan, and in less than two years, was named chairman of the fourth division. Apart from signing the warrant of arrest of Estrada, Justice Nario’s other famous decision was declaring Don Ramon Cojuangco and his heirs the rightful owners of telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.
He retired from Sandiganbayan in 2002, and three years later, in 2005, was appointed by President Arroyo to the PCGG, an office that requires good and honest men running after the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth.
During the three years the Justice was in “retirement,” he was active in social and civic clubs such as Kapihan sa Klub, Century Club, Oras Inc. (whose objective is punctuality, i.e., Filipinos should show up on time for appointments), and the UP (Diliman) Tennis Club, of which he has been president for three years.
Those three years were good for family bonding. At his 75th birthday celebration last week, was his charming wife, the former Josefina Pisuena (they married in 1957), and their accomplished six children and 13 of 14 grandchildren, sang and danced and gave homage to their father and lolo ‑ truly “a profile of fortitude.”
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