I'VE met a lot of lawyers in this life. Growing up in Cagayan de Oro though, I only knew a handful of them. All of them dads of my classmates. One of them particularly stood out. He was always wearing slippers, shorts, and white shirts. I never saw him wear a Barong or suit. He lived right in front of our school.
They said he and his wife were the lawyers for farmers, for victims of landgrabbers, for those who could not afford lawyers. That he stood up against powerful men. He graduated law from UP and he was one of those who topped the bar but chose to come home and be a lawyer for the poor.
You see, when you are a kid, people like this lawyer, whose lives you only read in books, will leave an impression -- impressions that subconsciously affect your actions.
Actions which include working your way to studying law in the same school and having the strong urge to come home to Cagayan de Oro and practice there.
So when I came home, I was fortunate enough to be invited by the daughter of this lawyer to their firm. Though it was a brief stint, working for one of your childhood idols was for me surreal. A nod of approval from this lawyer of a first draft pleading on a case against a landgrabber was my highlight of that stint.
You see, the work of a lawyer is simple. Rights, previously consented to by a group, which reasonably everyone has, should be protected. Your wealth, religion, or education do not give you superior rights over another. Justice means that you allow the least advantaged to have the most benefits in terms of rights. This is in order for them to have the opportunity to have an equal footing with others in society.
What complicates the work and compromises the values of a lawyer include, among others, his desire for wealth, power, connections, the approval of his peers, etc.
You see, the lawyer I was talking about is simple. He fervently believed that wealth, religion, or education should not give one superior rights in the eyes of the law. He believed that the purpose of justice was to give the least advantaged the most rights, and your values should not be compromised when you are working for that end.
I’ve met a lot of lawyers in this life. But rarely have I met a lawyer who stood as strongly and consistently for the fundamental purpose of justice like Mariano Carrasco. Rest in peace, sir. - Atty. Francis Paul U. Baclay, 2011 Grand Archon of UP Sigma Rho
