Wednesday, April 02, 2008 Justice Carpio is speaker at 11th UPMin commencement By John Bengan and Sheila Bulaong
UP MINDANAO will be holding its 11th Commencement Exercises on April 16 with Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Antonio Carpio as guest speaker.
Justice Carpio was one of the six justices who rendered a dissenting opinion in the 15-member of SC who upheld National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) chairman Romulo Neri's claim that he could not be questioned on his conversations with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo about the National Broadband Network (NBN) project with China 's ZTE Corp.
Carpio was born in Davao City on October 26, 1949 and got his early education from the Ateneo de Davao. He went on to finish a degree in Economics at the Ateneo de Manila in 1969 where he also served as editor-in-chief of "The Guidon" student newspaper.
It was his father, former regional director of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Davao and also a lawyer, Bernardo Carpio, who encouraged him to pursue law. At the UP College of Law, Carpio met Vietnamese Ruth Nguyen, his future wife who was introduced to him by activist Nelia Sancho. They have two children, Ronaldo and Audrey, both college graduates.
Graduating Cum Laude and Valedictorian from the UP College of Law, he took and passed the Bar Exams the same year, placing 6th in the 1975 Bar Examination. He then co-founded a firm with partners F. Arthur 'Pancho' Villaraza and Avelino 'Nonong' Cruz Jr. while teaching two subjects in law in UP Diliman. Years later he would also serve as a member of the university's Board of Regents.
On the advent of the first Edsa revolution, he was ready to unite with Reform the Armed Forces Movement, leaving the law firm on hold. He went on to serve as chief legal counsel to President Fidel V. Ramos for four years, wherein he helped collapse dominant cartels in the telecommunications and shipping industries, which as a college student Carpio already saw to be a cause of social inequity.
As a writer, he wrote columns in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Manila Times, Sun.Star Manila and the Journal of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. He was sworn in as a member of the SC of the Philippines on his 52nd birthday in 2001.
"The most important qualification of a judge is independence, not brilliance," Carpio had told a former associate. This honorable man who grew up in Davao, has become one of the country's most revered public servants.
