I HAD to agonize as I wrote this article. My mentor, Justice Bernardo T. Ponferrada, passed away last week after a lingering bout with the Big C. The news came as a total shock as my staff broke to me the sad news after having just awakened from my noontime nap at the office.

Immediately, I called up Linda Joya of the Philippine Judicial Academy to confirm the news. And while we were talking over the phone, my eyes welled up with tears as a big lump kept on growing inside my throat no matter how hard I tried to swallow. After I put down the phone, a most profound sense of grief overwhelmed my entire being as thoughts of the times I spent with the man flashed before me.

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It all began after I passed the Bar Exams of 1988. After having taken my oath of office in April 1989, like any rookie lawyer, I found myself at the crossroad of indecision whether to go on private practice or continue with my employment in government as I was then connected with the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental under Governor Daniel L. Lacson. Fortunately, there were two vacancies for the position of Clerk of Court V with the Regional Trial Court Branches 42 and 47. I’ve actually made two application letters, one addressed to Justice BTP (42) and the other to the late Judge Enrique Jocson (47). I still recall vividly the day when I was about to submit my application letters. I was then accompanied by my fellow 1988 Bar-passer Fiscal Ronald Yngson. But as we went to the old Provincial Capitol, we saw then Judge Ponferrada under the mercurochrome tree talking with some court employees who were then on strike. Right there and then, Fiscal Yngson introduced me to Justice Ponferrada, who without much ado, told me to come with him for an interview at his chambers then located at the Kadiwa Building.

That was how the BTP-JPA tandem was forged. Ours was a relationship that would span almost two decades. I stuck to him like Robin to Batman.
He was a stickler for sartorial elegance. The first advice he gave me was to dress up like a true lawyer. He abhorred lawyers who, according to him, looked more like criminals than barristers. He was always impeccably dressed in coat and tie. He had a coterie of neckties. And so with signature pairs of shoes.

But more than that, he was an innovator in the field of Judicial Service. Long before the Philippine Judicial Academy (Philja) came into being, as executive judge of the RTC of Bacolod City, he was already deep into the concept of a continuing education program for court personnel with his own locally conceived Judiciary Personnel Enrichment Program for judiciary employees of Bacolod City and the province of Negros Occidental, a program he implemented with the help of local NGOs. Then, he came up with the training/seminar on the Barangay Justice System for local barangays in coordination with the local DILG.

At the apogee of his term as executive judge of the RTC of Bacolod City, he was promoted in 1998 as deputy court administrator by then Chief Justice Andres R. Narvasa. Upon his mandatory retirement in 2001, he was immediately taken in by the Philja as head of the Office for Judicial Reforms. Prior to his demise, he was just promoted in 2008 as the head of the Philippine Mediation Center, the main implementer of the Court Annexed Mediation Program of the Supreme Court. He was 73.

This is my humble tribute to the man whom I consider as my teacher, advisor, friend, basketball coach and most of all, my father figure. He molded me into what I am today. Before he left for Manila in 1998, he assured me that one day, I too will sit on the bench. He unrelentingly egged me on to apply for the vacancy in MTCC Branch 7 sometime in 2001.

And he never gave up on me. Again in 2006, I was surprisingly included as one of the applicants for the vacancy in MTCC Branch 1 although I did not apply for the position. When I called Justice BTP to ask him how my name was included in the shortlist and to tell him that I was no longer interested because I’ve become contented with my previous position as clerk of Court RTC Branch 42, he would have none of that. Why he even ordered me to see to it that I would come for the interview and take the examinations if ever I was summoned by the Judicial and Bar Council.

Like the good soldier that I am, I obeyed without question. And so I did make it through the gauntlet. Funny, but through it all, I had this inkling that there was no other culprit except Justice BTP who was instrumental in putting me into this fix. Sure enough, he would eventually reveal to me later that he was the one who had my name included in the list.

Now that Justice BTP had crossed the Great River, it has dawned upon me that it was as if he just bided his time until he could make good on his promise to me. And so he did. Justice BTP will forever remain indelibly in my heart and in my mind. Yet even in my faint slumber, I could still hear his Waray voice booming... “Paolo, anak ng tinapa (son of a sardine)... ”

Godspeed, Justice BTP! I will remain your loyal Clerk of Court.