Thursday, September 25, 2008 Retirement to make de Gracia miss demands of bench work
AFTER eight years as presiding judge of the 15th Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch in Cebu City, Fortunato de Gracia Jr. will step off the court today to return to civilian life.
Having handled such cases as the drug charge lodged against Bernard Liu, de Gracia is a Judicial Excellence Award recipient and, at the time of his retirement, sat as the Executive Judge of the 7th Judicial Region.
“This will be my second retirement but I still have to get used to having nothing to do, having no responsibilities at all,” he said.
A day shy of 70 when interviewed yesterday, de Gracia cracked jokes about being “retired but not retarded” and maintained he still feels healthy, as “I have no vices above the belt.”
Getting busy
“I’ll probably teach or take up consultancy. I don’t want to go back to private practice. (If I do,) maybe it will be as a consultant on some interesting case. I can probably sit as co-counsel,” he said
De Gracia joined the bench in 2000 “after six years of “a retired man’s life” in the United States.
His first retirement came from the Philippine National Police (PNP), which he served since 1973, when it was still called the Philippine Constabulary.
He left the uniformed service in 1994 with the rank of chief superintendent. His last post was as deputy regional commander of what was then known as the Regional Command 7.
De Gracia said he would leave the Palace of Justice today just as he left the police service—feeling proud.
“I worked hard. In every instance, I wanted to do my best. And it paid off, maybe a thousand times,” he said.
De Gracia recalled how he almost didn’t finish law school, after the University of San Carlos (USC) refused his enrollment on his senior year.
“I wasn’t a (mischievous) student, a little exuberant maybe,” he said with a laugh.
The incident forced him to go to Manila and find a law school there.
“I was able to convince the president of the Lyceum of the Philippines that I won’t be a liability,” he added.
Becoming a lawyer
De Gracia got admitted to the bar in 1961 and went into private practice. He joined the Philippine Constabulary in 1973, after Martial Law destroyed any chance of “a lucrative practice of law.”
He was given the rank of captain and got assigned as an investigator in Camp Crame.
Years later, he got assigned to the Judge Advocate General’s Office and got tasked with defending constabularies from cases filed by human rights groups.
“I will miss the work here. It oriented me to work before sunup and after sunset. I’ve become used to it. Now, I’m at the pre-departure area. I will miss that. I will probably get dressed with nowhere to go,” he said. (KNR)
