LAST December 4, Reverend Father Amor Sitchon officiated the blessing of the newly refurbished building of the IBP Pampanga Chapter. Coupled with the legal assistance to deserving litigants and its barangay-based educational series on the issue of violence against women and children, the renovation is a modest legacy of the out-going set of officers led by President Pons Dela Cruz. Also worth mentioning is the Chapter’s community outreach activity for the benefit of our local Aetas, including the support of the Brigada Escuela Program.
For understandable reason, Father Sitchon focuses his homily on the long-haired blind-folded lady, standing upright and holding a torch heavenward, which statue is exhibited in front of the Supreme Court main building. The reverend’s message centers on the critical role of the judiciary as a dispenser of justice and sentinel of human rights, particularly those enshrined in our Constitution.
The Constitution seeks to protect the life, liberty and property of the citizenry against the capricious, vindictive and arbitrary acts of those in authority. The adoption of the Bill of Rights is to guarantee a reverence for the rule of law, thus, a check against a political leadership which presumes to lecture its master on what is good, right and just.
It must be remembered that it is not government that has given the rights to life, liberty and property but rather free men and women who work hard and risk their lives to chart their own destinies without undue interference from government. “Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.” In a free society, the role of government is to serve, not to rule or dictate. Certainly, not an instrument of social manipulation and repression.
But, it must also be understood that freedom or its rightful exercise depends on a critical degree on the citizens’ capacity for self-discipline and self-reliance. That freedom cannot co-exist with anarchy and authoritarianism combined. It is only when citizens are willing to submit voluntarily to the principles of ordered freedom, to observe the law, that freedom and genuine justice can flourish. That the legal profession as frontliner in the dispensation of justice is duty-bound to assume greater responsibility towards the realization of this desired social order.
But ultimately, it is only an independent and un-beholden judiciary that can reverse the concentration of political power at the expense of the people’s right to express their grievances collectively through peaceful and non-violent modes. It is only then and only then that the true meaning of that Lady Statue is achieved: blindfolded but not blind. Which means a fearless and indiscriminating dispensation of justice.
Welcome and congratulations to our newly sworn comrades who join the ranks in the pursuit of justice and freedom. In this endeavor, may I recall what a Great Philosopher once said: “I know there is GOD and I know He hates injustice. I can see the storm coming, but, if it has a place in my heart and a part for me, I am ready.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!