'Unwavering courage, impeccable integrity'; Upsilon Sigma Phi confers Diamond Fez

At this writing, 27 names have been sent to the Judicial and Bar Council as it prepares a shortlist of three nominees to be submitted to President Aquino for his choice of the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Some of the nominees are known to me, and I venture to say that most of them are qualified for the position. Nominee Atty. Frank Chavez is my bet for the position, based on my knowledge of his performance as a lawyer, and his having defended many journalists, including myself, who were slapped with multi-million peso libel suits during the Marcos regime.

Frank’s political activism was evident as a student demonstrator against the rule of Ferdinand Marcos and his wife. As First-Quarter Stormer, he joined the student mass action on Jan. 30, 1970, the First Battle of Mendiola Bridge. He was one of those manning the barricades when Metrocom soldiers stormed the University of the Philippines campus. His participation in numerous rallies notwithstanding, he finished the law course, cum laude, at the UP in 1971. Earlier, in 1967, he obtained a bachelor of science degree, cum laude from the West Negros College in Bacolod.

During the martial law years, he represented in court pro-bono more than 500 detainees who were haled to various courts on trumped-up charges of sedition, rebellion, inciting to sedition, etc. by the Marcos regime (September 1983 to March 1986). He handled press freedom, religious freedom and the Lino Brocka cases, plus the Escalante massacre case and “mistrial of the century case” in 1985, the ban-Marcos proclamation case in February 1986, and was a tireless, fearless street parliamentarian. These “fight for freedom and justice” involvements earned him the 1987 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) award for law and human rights. But importantly, they convinced President Corazon C. Aquino to appoint him as the youngest Solicitor General, from 1987 to 1992. As SolGen, he worked for the winning of 74 of the 81 government/policy cases decided by the Philippine Supreme Court. At the end of his term, President Aquino thanked him “most sincerely for the services you have rendered to the Government as Solicitor General with unwavering courage and impeccable integrity.”

He is known for his anti-graft and corruption exposes, which resulted in a complete revamp of the PCGG; the PAL scam of P2.2 billion, resulting in the dismissal of top ranking PAL executives, and the cessation of the small town lottery system, among others. He exposed the “immoral, illegal and unconstitutional” secret agreements between the PCGG and the Marcoses, and exposed the existence of $13.2 billion (as of June 1998) found in account No. 885931 of the Union Bank of Switzerland maintained under the name of a Marcos daughter.

His appearances as a trial lawyer at the Supreme Court have familiarized him with the expected responsibilities of the members of the highest tribunal of the land. Consider that he was exempted from the Supreme Court’s Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), October 28, 2002 “on the ground of expertise of law under Rule 7, Section 3 of Bar Matter No. 850” (Annexes “A” and “A-1” hereof).

His advocacies have not stopped, despite his flourishing private law practice (he is founder of the Chavez, Miranda and Aseoche Law Offices}. In 2008, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Union of People’s Lawyers “in recognition of his unwavering fight for freedom, justice, human rights, honesty in government service and constitutional advocacy — espousing public interest and the cause of the poor, the needy and the oppressed.”

After saying all that, I’m sure you know why I’m rooting for him to become the next Chief Justice.

The JBC will not be carried away by my bias, for sure. And in the end it will be President Noynoy Aquino who will choose the best man for the job. Whoever his choice, this columnist will fully honor and respect.

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The Upsilon Sigma Phi Fraternity honored eight distinguished Upsilonians at, as usual, a lively reception held at the Philippine Central Colleges the other evening. The affair was hosted by the Upsilon Sigma Phi Alumni Association (USPAA) led by chairman Eny Lacerna, Batch 1962, president Erdie Malveda, Batch 1969, and USPAA directors and officers. Newly elected UP Alumni Association president and incoming UP Regent Chitong Rivera, Batch 1961; and past UP alumni president Gari Tiongco, Batch ’62, gave inspirational messages. Ivan Henares, Batch 1998, fraternity historian and a senior lecturer at the Asian Institute of Tourism, UP-Diliman announced the data on the awardees.

The eight Upsilonian honorees who received their Diamond Fezes were Atty. Delfin Gonzales who belongs to Batch 1937, and the surviving members of Batch 1952, namely, Dr. Marianito Abagon, a practicing medical doctor; Fidel Alfonso, former Malayan Insurance Co., chairman; Aniano Bagabaldo, Filipino Manufacturers/Exporters Association vice president/COO; Josue Bellosillo, retired Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; Saeed Daof, Philippine Constitution Association (PHILCONSA) vice president for Mindanao and a peace advocate; Atty. Emil Leachon, a retired RTC Judge, and Dr. Fernando Piedad, former president of the Philippine Physician Colleges Association and former department head of Internal Medicine of the Manila Doctors Hospital.

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Delfin Gonzales’ story, told on video, was very touching, because at age 95, he still misses his wife, the late Aurea “Auring” Carballo, so much — five years after she passed away. He was shown on screen wiping tears away as he talked about her.

 Delfin was born on June 15, 1914, as the youngest of a brood of 14 boys. His parents had wanted a girl, but the last infant turned out to be a boy, so they dressed him up as a girl. A good thing he turned out to be macho. He was, he told his admiring Upsilonian brods, a “Tondo boy” who finished the law course at the UP College of Law, and edited the Philippinensian college paper.

In the course of a four-year courtship, Delfin would regularly visit the beauteous Auring at her home on weekends, with her mother chaperoning them in the living room, with an alarm clock nearby, set at 9 p.m.to tell him it was time to go. When he finally had enough money, he proposed to her and bought two gold wedding bands from La Estrella del Norte for P40 pesos, the actual receipt of which was shown in the film. The date on the receipt is Dec. 7, 1941, a day before Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Delfin and Auring were married shortly before the Japanese invaded the Philippines. They have four children, three boys and one girl — all of them professionals working abroad.

 The documentary, titled “66 years, 2 months, 21 days . . . and still counting,” is a quotation from Anais Nin, and had for its sound track, the couple’s favorite piece, Anton Rubinstein’s “Melody in F,” played on the piano by Nonong Buencamino. The title of the film states the period during which Delfin and Auring were married. It was first shown at  Skyine College in San Mateo, California, as a thesis of filmmaker Mona Lisa Yuchengco.

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