Talk delivered by retired Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban on August 25, 1995 [prior to his stint in the Supreme Court] when he was still a practicing lawyer and President of the Rotary Club of Manila, during the celebration of the National Laity Week at the Colegio de San Agustin Auditorium, Makati City
LORD Jesus, I pray that I may know you more clearly, And love you more dearly, So I can imitate you more nearly And serve you more eagerly. Amen.
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST:
St. Augustine said that our hearts are restless till they rest in God.
In my case, I tried to quiet that restlessness in many ways. I was an angry young man and I vowed to have my own generous slice of worldly wealth, power, and fame to cool my anger and soothe my pains.
I was born to poor parents who both died at a relatively early age before I could finish my schooling. I knew the depths of poverty, of sleeping on the cold sidewalks, of selling newspapers, of shining shoes and of peddling textbooks to my classmates to be able to own one myself. I was educated in public schools and in a non-sectarian university. Though born a Catholic, I didn’t have any idea at all of the Christian faith. While still in school, I felt a compelling need to rise from my poverty and from my ignorance by studying voraciously. My efforts were rewarded as I earned Latin honors, was acclaimed “Most Outstanding Student,” became a bar placer, won the presidency of the University’s Central Student Council, co-founded and headed the National Union of Students of the Philippines, and became a student-hero during my campus days.
But soon enough, I learned right after graduation that academic honors and student leadership did not satisfy my thirst for life and love, for peace and happiness. I learned all too early that being granted a scholarship in an Ivy League school in the U.S.A. was not good enough. I could not enjoy the privilege of education at Yale because I did not have the money to buy an air ticket. I was embittered. I envied the rich and the powerful, those who seemed to have no problem buying what they wanted and wanting nothing that could not be bought. I made a personal vow that henceforth travel would never be a hindrance to my ambitions. And I promised myself that one day I would be super rich and control the lives of other people.
And so, I began a new search to quiet my restlessness — with earthly treasures and sparkling gold. In the early eighties, I witnessed that ultra-rapid amassing of incredible wealth in Hongkong dollars. I enjoyed first-class travel, private jets and yachts, Rolls-Royce limousines, Piaget and Patek Philippe watches and stayed in mansions of the rich and famous. And for myself, I quickly earned over four million U.S. dollars from zero in just two years, only for this incredible wealth, including my four million U.S. dollars, to vanish into thin air in the stock market crash of 1982 in Hongkong. The lavish life-style I enjoyed did not bring me peace — it merely increased my appetite for more and more and more.
I envied, not only the rich, but also the famous. So, I associated with movie stars and beauty queens and gained a reputation of sorts as a vain person who could not be serious with life. People forgot that I was firstly and mostly a lawyer. They wrote me off as frivolous and carefree. I became a fixture in high-society gossip and a regular feature in society columns. But my activities brought me no peace and quiet; no fulfillment and sense of purpose. Worse, it alienated me from my wife and my children — with a dubious, though untrue, reputation that I enjoyed life because I had the best of the world, namely possessions, power, and popularity.
The books I read, the fame I relished, the lifestyle I drowned in and the wealth I knew did not provide answers to questions that kept hounding me: Who am I? Why was I born? Where am I headed for?
The turning point in my life was in 1986 when I found Jesus Christ; when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit during a Life in the Spirit Seminar I attended when I proclaimed Jesus as my Lord and Savior; Healer and Lover; when I learned to imitate and follow His Word and His ways; when I knew that my purpose in life is to obey and glorify Him; when I realized that though I was in the world, I did not belong to this world that though I am a resident of earth, I am truly a citizen of heaven. I veered focus on my wife and children, found purpose in my life and was filled with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, I became brand-new — in the words of St. Paul, “a new creation” of the Lord.
It is said that life in Christ, or more precisely, life in imitation of Christ, is truly a recurring cycle of passion, death and resurrection. I experienced my passion in my long search for the meaning and purpose of life. I had to die to my own pride, my own private ambitions, to my own human aspirations to be able to live, to rise and to resurrect into a life on high with Jesus Christ.
After that turning point in 1986, I was asked to share about my new life and I would like to quote a portion of that sharing as follows:
“But my own resurrection would not be complete if it is only I who will find God and His goodness. During my own passion and death, God enabled me to meet both the high and the lowly, the powerful and the weak, the “glitterati” and the downtrodden. I know the emptiness, the loneliness they feel. They all need the Lord in their lives. They are all lost sheep looking for pastures which they can never find without the Good Shepherd. And so, I have imposed it upon myself, in obedience to God’s will, to take up the walking stick of His shepherd and do my own bit in bringing others to Him. Though I feel inadequate and unworthy, I have taken up God’s mission in bringing His word to you and to all whom He has enabled me to meet, because I know that it is not my adequacy or my own worthiness that is important. The Lord has chosen me by His grace and His mercy, not because of any talent or good deed I have done, but because of my faith in Him. It is by faith, and by sight, that I have found the Lord.”
Consistent with this vow of “bringing God’s Word to others,” I developed a hunger for Scriptures for I know I could not give what I did not have. I read the Bible cover to cover many times, and read volumes and volumes of commentaries. In the practice of my profession of law, in my various businesses, in my home, in my leisure and in my lifestyle, the Scriptures became my guide and my light. With the help of my brothers and sisters in the Bukas Loob sa Diyos Covenant Community, or BLD, I developed the Holy Spirit’s gifts of discernment, sharing, reflection, prayer and healing. And I apply these gifts whenever confronted with any concern of daily life, whether it be critical or trivial.
Today, I have been asked to share with you how my new life and Christian values are applied to my election and work as President of the Rotary Club of Manila, considered the premier civic club in the country.
RCM was organized on June 1, 1919, making it the oldest Rotary Club in Asia. With its 455 members, it also has the distinction of being the largest, not only in Asia, but also in the whole world, with the exception of the United States. It counts among its membership important personages in government, in business and in the professions, including several cabinet members, members of Congress and judiciary, some 40 doctors, 50 lawyers, several bank presidents, leading members of the diplomatic and consular corps, heads of several multinational companies and executives of the top 300 companies in the country. It maintains a professional 15-man secretariat with offices in 3 suites in Manila Hotel. Indeed, the presidency of RCM has a long tradition of excellence. Amongst RCM’s former presidents were a Senate President, a Supreme Court Justice, and the only Filipino wo became president of the United Nations General Assembly.
There is no politics or campaigning for election in Manila Rotary. In fact, no one really runs for President of RCM. One is simply elected into it. This is because under RCM’s election procedure, which is unique in the world of Rotary, the Rotarian who garners the highest number of votes in the open election for membership in the Board of Directors is automatically proclaimed President. Hence, anyone nominated for the position of director could be elected president, if he should gather the higher number of votes in that election where, I repeat, no campaigning is allowed by Club rules and Club tradition.
When the possibility of being elected President was broached to me by some well-meaning Rotarians, my immediate reaction was one of refusal. I knew that the presidency demanded almost full-time work – as in fact, many former presidents have had to take a leave of absence from their businesses or professions which I could not do. Besides, I was deeply involved in our covenant community’s activities because my wife and I were in-charge of the apostolate that supervised all its marriage encounter seminars and was also busy as head of the Community Foundation.
But in all things and events that come my way, I subjected this possibility to reflection and daily prayer so I may know what the Lord willed for me. Later, I requested some of the leaders and members of our Community, particularly those who like me, were RCM members, to join me in the discernment process. After several reflections and discernment sessions, the group was unanimous that I must not reject the idea of being elected and that, instead, I must be open to an election and clear my schedule so I can serve properly. When elections came, the results were never in doubt, for I topped the voting with a record margin in RCM’s history. Fortunately for me, the elections were held in December, 1989 and I took over the responsibilities of the presidency only in July, 1990, thereby giving me seven months to reflect, pray about, and plan for my incumbency.
Even after the elections, our little discernment group continued meeting. Together with the group, I prayed and asked the Lord, “Now that You have gotten me elected president, what do you want me to do? What should be the theme and thrust of my incumbency?” The group prayed and waited on the Lord, and finally the answer came in Isaiah 42, verses 1 to 4 and 6 to 8, which I quote as follows:
“Here is my servant whom I uphold, My chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my spirit; Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard on the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness
I am the Lord, this is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.”
I can never forget the day when this discernment was made and confirmed. I had goose pimples all over me. I could not believe that I could be the “chosen one…. whom the Lord has called for the victory of justice…to be a light for the nations… to open the eyes of the blind… and to bring out prisoners from confinement.” How can I do evangelical work in a civic organization that has a long history of non-involvement in spiritual matters?
The days and nights that passed were reverberations of these words. And even if I covered my ears and buried my head under my pillow, the words of Isaiah still penetrated my senses.
And so, in obedience to His Divine Word, reluctantly in the beginning but enthusiastically later, I implemented His will through my human toil. First, I had to formulate a new credo for my incumbency. I prayed to the Lord and I asked Him what should be the theme of my presidency. And I was led to Mark 12:29-32. This passage relates that in one of his encounters with the Jews, Jesus Christ was asked this question:
“Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?” Jesus replied: “The first is: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is: love your neighbor as yourself.”
Based on this, I eventually formulated the new credo: LOVE GOD SERVE MAN. When I initially floated this theme, my Rotarian-friends were aghast. “Why do you inject God in a civic club? This is unheard of. It is divisive! Remember, there are many non-Christians in the Club. You will be imposing on them!”
But the more I was opposed, the more I was convinced that that should be our new theme. And if my members will vilify me for it…. So be it. I took comfort in our Lord’s promise in Matthew 5:11 & 12:
“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of slander against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is great in heaven.”
With the help of my leadership team, I expanded this credo into a full-blown printed 76-page Program of Action, describing in detail 178 projects and activities that RCM would undertake, complete with specific days and months during my one-year incumbency when these activities would be performed. The Program of Action, a “first” in RCM’s history, called for a budget of 90 million pesos, an outlay that is not twice, not thrice, but 18 times the biggest budget of 5 million pesos that RCM had in the past.
During my inaugural address on July 12, 1990, I outlined these 178 projects. The members were aghast at the huge budget and the ambitious program of action. They were even more stupefied by my 30-minute speech when I emphasized that our 178 projects and 90-million pesos budget shall be devoted to the amelioration of “the least of our brothers” as required by our Lord in Matthew 25. I said that while our program of action was aimed at three main thrusts: first, service for our members; second, pursuit of excellence in business, in government, in education and in the profession; our most important commitment during my term in Manila Rotary is the third, and that is, to assist the poor, the afflicted and the weak. I said, and I quote, “This is the base, the most important component, the driving force of (my) vision for Manila Rotary. As your President, I vow to channel our major treasures, time and talent in helping our less fortunate brothers. To me, this is the raison d’etre, the reason for being of Manila Rotary – – to help those who cannot help themselves and to help those who cannot help us back in return.”
To justify the spiritual tone of both my program of action and my credo, I urged in my inaugural speech that Rotary’s traditional maxims had theological roots. I said, and I quote again:
“Service above self. He profits most who serves best.” In invoking these familiar Rotary maxims, Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary International, was mouthing not just capitalist doctrine, but a spiritual truth.
“This is the reason why the incoming team has adopted LOVE GOD SERVE MAN as our new credo. This is really a theological restatement of Paul Harris’ maxims. This credo summarizes our whole being and purpose on earth – to glorify God by serving our fellowmen.”
During my inaugural, I invited not only the 455 members of RCM, but also the presidents of the more than 166 satellite Rotary clubs in Metro Manila, as well as the diplomatic corps, and my friends in government, in business and in the professions. I wanted them all to hear my message and my vow. As I concluded my speech, I declared: “Upon this credo, LOVE GOD SERVE MAN, I shall be judged, not only in the Rotary Club of Manila but I dare say, in my whole unworthy life here on earth.”
The members of my Club had mixed reactions – – from the incredulously critical (like, “why is religion now a program of RCM?”) or the absolutely euphoric (“Alleluia, what a spirit-filled speech!”) But the true test of their response was dramatically displayed during our Club’s regular meeting just one week after my inaugural.
You see, on Monday, July 16, 1990, four days after my induction as president, Luzon was devastated by that killer of an earthquake. During the following luncheon meeting of RCM on Thursday, July 19, I made a plea for assistance to the poor, afflicted and weak earthquake victims. The members thunderously responded with contributions and pledges amounting to a massive P5.5 million in just 30 minutes of pledging and outpouring, followed by another P660,000 telephoned the following day. In total, the contributions given or pledged by Manila Rotarians alone came up to nearly seven million pesos. When I asked for contributions, I would have been totally satisfied if my co-members pitched in P500,000. But the Lord is truly generous. He caused them to give and to give generously – 16 times more than my best expectation. And to think that these funds are not even included in the 90-million-peso regular budget! Not only that, members gave generously of themselves – doctors contributed their time and expertise; businessmen sent their products and manufactures, their wives sent old clothes and groceries and our relief team set-up a “tent city” for 250 families in Burnham Park, Baguio. Even foreign Rotary Clubs responded magnificently. One club, the Rotary Club of Waikiki, air-freighted from Hawaii over 3,300 kilos of relief goods in one shipment.
I thank the Lord for this massive response. I view this tremendous outpouring of support not merely as an answer to my call to LOVE GOD SERVE MAN but as a sign of His Providence when we discern and obey His will and step out in faith to proclaim it. Truly, it is His way of affirming those who live by His Word and His commandments.
And today, August 25, 1998, barely two months into my presidency, I already feel the mighty presence of the Lord’s anointing. I just know deep in my heart that as long as I remain His obedient servant, I cannot fail.
Brothers and sisters, I was a sinner and I am still a sinner who is thoroughly unworthy of God’s blessings. And as I contemplate my sinfulness in God’s mighty presence, I look up and see only the compassionate and merciful eyes of Jesus. In complete faith, I lift up and abandon everything I am and I have before Him, fully confident of His unfailing love for me which I know is my only source of salvation. In these moments of unworthiness before my King and Master, I always remember St. Paul’s First letter to Timothy – in which he humbles himself and declares:
“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, that He has made me His servant and judged me faithful. I was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, a man filled with arrogance; but because I did not know what I was doing in my unbelief, I have been treated mercifully, and the grace of our Lord has been granted me in overflowing measure, along with the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. You can depend on this as worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these, I myself am the worst. But on that very account, I was dealt with mercifully, so that in me, as an extreme case, Jesus Christ might display all His patience, and that I might become an example to those who would later have faith in Him and gain everlasting life. To the King of ages, the immortal, the invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.”
The Personal Website of Retired Chief Justice Panganiban 