THOSE in the know have long acknowledged Atty. Amando Virgil Ligutan as a prominent trial lawyer in Cebu. But now, he has suddenly become a national sensation for his role as a pro-bono private lawyer assisting the prosecution panel of the House of Representatives in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Years back, Ligutan also represented former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña in several cases filed by former Cebu City Police Office chief Royina Garma before the Ombudsman. He likewise successfully defended Cebuana artist Maria Victoria “Bambi” Beltran who was arrested over a satirical post at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
People have thus come to identify Ligutan as a Cebuano. After all, he did study college here at the University of San Carlos before taking up law at the University of the Philippines. And although he started his law practice after passing the bar in Manila, he eventually returned to Cebu where his lawyering took off, along with teaching at the University of San Jose-Recoletos and the University of Cebu.
But Ligutan hails from Carigara, Leyte. The Cebuano tag actually came from national media reports and not from Ligutan himself who prefers to be identified as a Bisaya who converses in both Cebuano and Waray-Waray.
That many are now calling him Cebuano isn’t really surprising. Through the years, Cebu has had a long list of bar topnotchers and legal luminaries including legislators, constitutionalists and Supreme Court justices. Consequently, it only seemed natural to assume that Ligutan comes from the province’s roster of legal heavyweights.
What is important to note, however, is that Ligutan hasn’t really shaken off the Cebuano tag himself. By all indications, he typifies what we often call “a Cebuano by choice,” someone who wasn’t born in Cebu but chooses to live here and adopt the local culture, language and identity.
According to a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), the likes of Ligutan comprise 23 percent of Cebu’s population who were born in other Visayan provinces. Jica’s figures further show that Cebu is populated by 70 percent of people who were born in Cebu City or other towns and cities within the province while seven percent come from other regions in Luzon and Mindanao.
People who have come to call Cebu their home despite having been born from other places are called “lifetime migrants.” They comprise a significant portion of the population of Central Visayas, the Philippine Statistics Authority says. Nationwide, the region ranks fourth among the country’s 17 regions that host the highest number of lifetime migrants.
Cebuanos by choice help drive local progress and enhance the development landscape in many ways. They expand and enrich the labor reserve, stimulate economic consumption, contribute special skills, promote cultural diversity and help in the demographic rejuvenation.
Historically, these lifetime migrants have successfully woven themselves into the fabric of Cebuano society, making it more colorful, vibrant and dynamic. Even in local politics, many of Cebu’s elected leaders actually come from families or clans that originated in Bohol, Leyte, Negros Island and in some parts of Mindanao.
Cebuanos should therefore be proud to call Ligutan as one of their own; his educational and professional records are impeccable, his command of the courtroom admirable, his civic-mindedness laudable. Regardless of which side of the political divide we’re on, we have to acknowledge the fact that this young lawyer is an added feather to Cebu’s legal cap, someone who may one day occupy a national office that will proudly scream the word CEBUANO.