Bapa SEJA

Bapa is a Bahasa term that means “father,” and I use it here in honor of a man whom I look up to like a father — a man who had done so much for his country and for the international community as well. He was my boss, my mentor, a colleague in government service and in several advocacies, a good and dear friend.

Edgardo Javier Angara started his public life as a member of the Constitutional Commission of 1971. A year after, he founded the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala and Cruz Law Offices or ACCRALAW.

In 1979, he co-founded the ASEAN Law Association (ALA) and served as its founding president. ALA is a non-government organization that brings together members of the legal profession from all across the region.

Today, ALA is 10-country strong and is considered the only private entity recognized by the ASEAN. It counts top justices and lawyers as its members, including the chief justices of the ASEAN member-countries.

Father and son. Sen. Sonny Angara and SEJA.

Angara became president of the University of the Philippines in my freshman year until I graduated from the College of Law. The reforms he introduced in UP are felt until today, like the seven-year integrated medicine program and the multi-campus school system, among others.

Back then, I already knew him as one of the founding partners of one of the fastest-growing, prestigious and highly respected law firms in the country.

The work ethics, legal skills, stellar academic achievements and idiosyncrasies of the ACCRALAW partners were the stuff of urban legend. 

I knew then that I must learn to cut my teeth as a lawyer only from the very best — well aware and never oblivious of the toll it would take on my social life as well as mental and physical health.

As fate would have it, after graduating, I was taken into the fold at ACCRALAW where I became part of its much-vaunted Litigation Group — arguably, the best of the very best.

Angara’s vision, which was shared by his partners, was to establish a legal practice built on a strong foundation of legal excellence and competence — an institution that will withstand changes in political winds. 

ACCRALAW celebrated its 46th anniversary last May 12. A true testament to Angara’s vision.  

With Philippine Ballet Theater president Sylvia Lichauco-de Leon, Gloria Manalang-Angara and Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte.

PEJA, as he was known then, made a run for, and won, a seat in the post-EDSA Philippine senate. PEJA became SEJA and took me in to be part of his senate team, where I served under his chairmanship of the Senate Committees on Education and Health and his membership in the Senate Committees on Energy and Finance.

SEJA was the senate president from 1993 to 1995 and stayed on in the senate till end of term in 1998.

As senator and senate president, SEJA, with great craftsmanship and statesmanship, made possible many landmark pieces of legislation. This was by no means an easy feat if we consider the prevailing political setup then.

Among the laws he authored and co-authored were the laws creating the NCCA and TESDA, as well as the Senior Citizens Act (also known as the Angara Law). He also authored the Free High School Act, the PhilHealth Act and the Fair and Equitable Access to Education Act.

Most of his legislation had to do with education and countryside development, believing that these are key to the economic growth of the nation. Before “inclusive growth” was an operative catch-phrase, Angara already embraced it.

With The Board of Trustees of the University of the Philippines Law Alumni Association and the University of the Philippines Law Alumni Foundation Inc. (From left) Prof. Andre Palacios, lawyers Ferdinand Domingo and Fina De la Cuesta-Tantuico, Ernestine Carmen Jo Villareal- Fernando, SEJA, UP College of Law dean Fides Cordero-Tan, lawyers Avelino Cruz Jr., Jennifer Castro, Jose Gerardo Medina and Victor Lazatin.

I served with Angara in the Cabinet of then President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. He was Agriculture Secretary and became Executive Secretary.

After public service in the Executive branch, Angara returned to the senate, where he served for full terms until 2013 when he decided to retire.

Together, we also served as board members of the UP Law Alumni Foundation and officers in the ASEAN law association.

In 2017, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte appointed him Special Envoy to the European Union, acknowledging how he had always maintained good relations with our European partners and friends. It was a crucial and timely appointment, indeed, coming on the heels of EU pronouncements on suspending development aid.

It was also him who authored the law declaring every June 30th as Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day, a national holiday.

His impact in the international arena was also in how he nurtured relations between the Philippines and Japan.

For this, he was recognized by no less than Emperor Hirohito with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest class in this Japanese honor system awarded to those who have made distinguished achievements in the field of international relations or in advancements in the awardee’s field of expertise.

Lawyer Ave Cruz, SEJA and lawyer Victor Lazatin.

I will terribly miss Ninong Ed, not only for the mentorship and influence that he had in my professional life, but also for the friendship and camaraderie built through the years.

In most, if not in all, of our conversations, we would exchange jokes or make funny comments on whatever was the topic at hand. And no serious board meeting was spared!

Every time he called, or when we would meet, he would, with a big smile, address me as “Don Miguel.” At times, he would call me the “miracle worker.” I know these were terms of endearment but coming from him, they were more like badges of honor.

We see the passing of a great man who could have been one of the best presidents we never had.

American poet Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

 To my dear Tita Baby, Anna, Senator Sonny and Tootsy, Katya and Anthony, Alex and Joe, we will never forget, the nation will never forget, how SEJA made us feel.