Honoring a 'woman exemplar'

The late Supreme Court Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma would have turned 95 years old this coming Saturday, the 22nd of November 2008. She passed away February 2, 2006. A woman such as she would always be remembered in Philippine history. So would her words be: “. . . in every man’s life, there will come a moment of truth, a moment when a decision has to be made, when one has to put to a test his conscience and reason.”

She had received many awards for her accomplishments, and even now, awards are aplenty in her honor. Three months ago, the Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma Foundation, Inc. was founded by her family and friends to honor “the life and career of one of the most outstanding and admirable Filipino women in the country.”

The latest is the Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma Award. Of the reasons for it, the first is to honor her memory and relive her spirit and ideals as a “Woman of Firsts” in the legal profession and champion of the cause of democracy, human rights, truth, freedom, and justice in the Philippines.”

Nominations for the first recipient of the award which will be held biennially, will open February 2, 2009, and end on Nov. 22, 2009, on the justice’s birth date.

The award is open to all legal professionals in government service, in development and NGO work, or in the justice system — who embody the civic-mindedness of Justice Palma in the areas of human rights, peace, and social justice (i.e. public welfare, humanitarian work, voluntary practice, NGO/social service), and a catalyst of change.

The winner will receive a cash prize, a trophy by world-renowned sculptor Ramon Orlina, and a grant to the recipient’s project or institution to further his or her cause.

The Justice Palma Foundation board of trustees is made up of accomplished and honorable men and women, headed by Mina Gabor, president, and Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid, vice-president.

Nominations should be sent to the Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma Foundation, Inc., c/o The Firm of Sarmiento, Delson, Dakanay and Resurreccion, 8th Floor, Immaculate Concepcion Bldg, 41 Lantana Street, Cubao, Quezon City.

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Well, just to refresh your memory, on why Justice Munoz Palma was called a woman of many “firsts” or “woman exemplar.” She got first honors, as valedictorian in her high school class ’31, at St Scholastica’s College, Manila; was topnotcher in the bar exams of 1937; the first woman fiscal appointed by President Manuel Roxas in 1947-54, and the first woman judge of the Court of First Instance appointed by President Ramon Magsaysay in 1954 until 1968.

She was the second (not first) woman Justice of the Court of Appeals and first woman Justice of the Supreme Court, from 1973 until her retirement in 1978 at the age of 65 — both appointments made by President Ferdinand Marcos.

She was the first woman Representative of the political opposition representing Quezon City upon her election in 1984 to the Regular Batasang Pambansa where she served until 1986 when the Batasan was dissolved by the Revolutionary Government of President Corazon C. Aquino.

She was the first Filipina to be elected on June 2, 1968 as president of the Constitutional Commission created by President Aquino to draft a new Constitution which was ratified by the Filipino people on Feb. 2, 1987 as the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines.

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She did not feel beholden to the late dictator Marcos for her appointment to the Supreme Court; the dictator and his minions must have thought she would rally to his side, but she did not, and wrote dissenting opinions that did not please the dictatorship. In fact, she hesitated accepting the appointment because, according to Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J., she told him about the condition of “absolute loyalty” that was attached to the appointment. But she accepted, anyway, because of a “mission” entrusted to her. Wrote Father Bernas: “She saw it as a vocation within a vocation. We know very well how nobly and how courageously she performed that mission.”

According to Father Bernas, another trying moment for Justice Muñoz Palma came in early September of 1974, on the eve of the Supreme Court decision on the habeas corpus petition of Jose W. Diokno. She had prepared a draft of a dissenting opinion which, in the judgment of some of her colleagues, could destroy the image of the President in the international scene. She was even “roasted” by her more senior colleagues to tone down her language. She had to go into hiding to finish writing her draft on a borrowed typewriter at her son Tadeo’s home in Marikina. She then submitted the draft to Chief Justice Enrique Fernando. Before the decision could be released, word got out about Justice Palma’s opinion, and some people thought its content may have led to Diokno’s release.

Father Bernas wrote that the last paragraph of Justice Palma’s dissenting opinion is not what appears in the published Supreme Court Reports. This was because she made some modifications after Diokno was released. This is how she originally concluded:

“In closing, I am bothered by the thought that some of my colleagues may attribute my approach to Diokno’s petition to my being a woman, and I may even be accused of allowing my emotions to overpower my reason. If there is such an assumption I would say that it is incorrect. However, if it is indeed true that my being a woman led me to take this stand on Diokno’s petition, then I am happy and proud that I was born a woman.”

What a woman.

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