Adolf Azcuna: Servant of Justice

Adolf Azcuna, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, was recently elected as the first Filipino to be a commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). The organization is a highly select group of only 60 eminent judges and lawyers from countries all over the world.

The ICJ, based in Geneva, Switzerland, promotes and protects human rights through the Rule of Law by using its unique legal expertise to develop and strengthen national and international justice systems. One of its missions is to ensure that international law, especially human rights and humanitarian law, is utilized effectively for protection, particularly for the most vulnerable and is implemented through effective national and international procedures.

This has always been one of Azcuna’s fervent advocacies and one of his greatest legacies will be the authorship of the Writ of Amparo, the most meaningful rule that has ever been adopted by the Supreme Court, upon the initiative of then Justice Azcuna, to defend the ordinary citizen. This writ is a “remedy to protect the right to life, liberty and security of every person.”

It strengthens the legal foundation of human rights, the writ of habeas corpus, which protects the liberty of individuals by compelling the presentation of the body of a person detained without charges. This is best protection against extralegal killings and “salvaging.”

During the brutal dictatorships in South America, in countries like Argentina, Chile and El Salvador, the salvaging of those considered as enemies of the state was a tool often used to prop up dictatorial regimes. This resulted in the mysterious and unexplained disappearances of thousands of activists and innocent victims. In the Philippines, this brutal practice was rampant during the Marcos regime. The Writ of Amparo, as authored by Justice Azcuna, sought to end this brutal injustice.

I met Adolf when we both had the privilege of working in the Office of the President during the term of Corazon Aquino. I was then head of the Presidential Management Staff while he was presidential legal counsel. We have remained close friends since then. But I remember that my first impression was of a person who was a linguist with awesome academic credentials. We both shared a love of history and a passion for books.

We both worked closely together and I cannot remember ever having any disagreements or policy differences with Adolf. We worked for the Executive Secretary; first Joker Arroyo and then Catalino Macaraig. However, we did have different areas of responsibilities. But we ended up being fervent admirers of Cory Aquino. The opportunity to serve the Filipino through her presidency would remain one of the biggest milestones in both our lives.

Adolf recently wrote about his memories of working for President Cory in a special issue of People Asia last August. Here are his opening paragraphs in that article:

“I was introduced to President Cory as part of the Manindigan! Team of four people who, early on in her presidency, presented our humble offer to help in her awesome tasks. She was relaxed yet determined. She warmly welcomed us and our initiatives...

As fate would have it, not long thereafter, the issue of forming a Constitutional Commission to draft a new Constitution came up. Somehow, I got drawn into it due to my experience as an elected delegate (for Zamboanga del Norte) to the 1971 Constitutional Convention. Partly helped by an article on international law that I wrote at the insistence of the late Art Borjal, and perhaps by the Manindigan! visit, President Cory appointed me among the 48 members of the Constitutional Commission that would draft the 1987 Philippine Constitution. From that time on, it was the unfolding of a truly wonderful and unique part of my life, that of serving our people under the presidency of President Corazon Aquino.”

When Azcuna retired from the Supreme Court in 2009, the late esteemed columnist Billy Esposo wrote about him. This was during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Esposo said: “Many Filipinos do not know the great men in public service — who they are and what they silently accomplish for our country. We suffer from a leadership crisis because most Filipinos are prevented from knowing the very people who could best serve them.”

This occurred to me last Friday when I attended the retirement ceremony of Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolf Azcuna. Hearing the highly esteemed Chief Justice Reynato Puno extol the legacy of the retiring Adolf Azcuna, as if in awe, narrating Adolf’s landmark decisions and initiatives — I could not help but feel that we have a great Filipino bowing out of public service and only the cognoscenti will know what we all owe him.”

While Billy Esposo was right in presenting Adolf as a model for public service, it was premature to conclude that Adolf’s days of serving his country was over. I suppose it was really unrealistic to expect a person like Adolf to simply fade away and spend all his time enjoying his passion for “street photography,” attending concerts, and reading several books at the same time.

After retirement he was appointed Chancellor of the Philippine Judicial Academy which was created as a “training school for justices, judges, court personnel, lawyers, and aspirants to judicial posts.”  During the entire DAP constitutional controversy, I continually consulted him for his legal views because I considered him as the foremost expert on constitutional law in the country.

Perhaps, it was to be expected that it would only be a matter of time before the entire world would discover that Adolf Azcuna was one of those rare persons who can be instrumental in realizing a world in which through the Rule of Law a just, democratic and peaceful society can be achieved, rights and freedoms are expanded, and social justice is embraced.

* * *

Email: [email protected]