With liberty and prosperity for all

In the legal profession to which I belong, there exists a judicial philosophy that in litigations involving the civil liberty of our people, the scales of justice should weigh heavily against the government and in favor of the people, pursuant to the doctrine of strict scrutiny.

However, in matters affecting the economy of the country and the prosperity of our people, courts — in the absence of grave abuse of discretion — must defer to the Executive and Legislative branches of government, in accordance with the principle of deferential interpretation of laws and executive issuances.

This is the core judicial philosophy that retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban adheres to, and is the basis upon which, to safeguard liberty and nurture prosperity under the rule of law, he founded the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity (FLP) back in 2011.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

“Liberty and Prosperity under the Rule of Law.” The main agenda of the FLP is “to create programs that will support the country’s government and business sectors in ensuring inclusive economic growth and expansion.”

The FLP believes that the economic pie must not only be fairly divided but must also be enlarged so that more benefits could be spread to more people under the social justice principle of giving more in law to those who have less in life. At the same time, the FLP also asserts that promoting and developing the country’s economy must be the primary responsibility of its political leaders.

In many ways, these perspectives entail paradigm shifts that are necessary to attain the full potential of the Philippines as a rapid developing nation.

Justice Panganiban leading the guests in a birthday song for the First Lady.

The FLP’s board of trustees include retired Supreme Court Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez as president, with retired Supreme Court Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, former Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus, former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Amado Tetangco, Maria Elena Yaptangco, professor Maria Theresa Mañalac and lawyers Joel Emerson Gregorio and Arvin Paolo Cortez. Retired Chief Justice Panganiban serves as the foundation’s chairman.

Just recently, the foundation held an awards ceremony at the Manila Polo Club to honor deserving Filipino law and business scholars. There were three groups of awardees: 20 law scholars who received P200,000 each; five Master of Business Administration fellows who received P450,000 each; and 20 dissertation contest winners with prizes amounting to over P1.5 million.

First Lady Marie Louise “Liza” Araneta Marcos graced the occasion as special guest and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation chairman, president and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) was guest speaker.

The scholarships were granted in partnership with the Tan Yan Kee Foundation represented by Lucio Tan III while the fellowships were proclaimed together with Metro Pacific Investments Corporation through the Metro Pacific Investments Foundation. The dissertation writing contest was conducted in partnership with Ayala Corp.

(Seated, from left) Manuel V. Pangilinan, Chaye Cabal-Revilla, and Ramon Fernandez; (standing, from left) Debbie Tan, Atty. Jun Pilares, Justice Panganiban, the author and his son Javi Toledo, Ricky Vargas, Atty. Marilyn V. Aquino, and Gina Marina Ordoñez.

The event was also an occasion for FLP to install Dean Darlene Marie Berberabe of the University of the Philippines College of Law into the FLP Professorial Chairs program by FLP partners, Metrobank chairman Arthur Ty and Toyota Philippines chairman Alfred Ty.

The Chief Justice Panganiban Professorial Chairs on Liberty and Prosperity is the flagship program of the foundation and was created in the country’s top law schools and in the Philippine Judicial Academy or PhilJA.

In his speech, MVP spoke about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the law, mentioning that lawyers (and even the public in general) should not fear the many disruptions caused, and to be caused by AI. According to MVP, “Generative AI has the capacity to curate huge data and create new content — video, audio, and text which resemble human intelligence. And because its products, even if artificial, can loop back into the system, (it can) learn and become over time more human-like. AI will get smarter over time, so we must be wary of what AI can do now, and more so, in the future.”

“Nevertheless,” he assured, “you will not be replaced by AI per se, but you can be replaced by a person using AI.”

Something to consider not just for the legal and judicial profession in providing for liberty and prosperity for all, under the rule of law, well into the future.