* Edited copy of the Impromptu Closing Remarks delivered by retired Chief Justice ARTEMIO V. PANGANIBAN at the end of a Professorial Lecture delivered by founding law Dean Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno held at the De La Salle School of Law on April 6, 2024, sponsored by the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity.
Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat. Mahina yata ang sagot ninyo, kaya sa wikang Ingles po ako magsasalita: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. (in chorus, the audience responded enthusiastically “Good afternoon!”) Ayan, malakas ang sagot ninyo! Malakas at maningning pala ang sagot pagka sinabi ang “Magandang hapon Po” sa Ingles!
Salutations and Greetings
Our esteemed lecturer, Dean Jose Manuel Diokno, is known better as “Chel” Diokno. To me, he’s the worthy son of a worthy father. I will elaborate on that a little later after I greet the other personalities here.
Of course, our esteemed host, Dean Gil De Los Reyes of the Tañada-Diokno School of Law of De La Salle University. I was here in 2010 when your school was inaugurated. Since then, 14 years have passed, and you now have a fully matured law school that’s the best in BGC. That comment eliminates the law school in faraway Diliman with a branch here in BGC (loud laughter).
Dean Gil, why did you apologize for rendering the Invocation? I think we should be proud that we pray. To be clear, praying is not disallowed by any law; in fact, it is encouraged by our Constitution and by our Supreme Court. As we all know, the Preamble of our Constitution begins with “We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God . . .” That’s an express prayer to God. When I was an associate justice, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Supreme Court during the entire year from June 2001 to June 2002. The Supreme Court was born in 1901 and became 100 years old in 2001. I was named chairman of the Executive Committee by Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. with the mandate to celebrate our centenary. One of the things we did was to compose a “Prayer for the Courts.”
We started praying it in 2001. Up to now, it is still prayed before the Supreme Court begins its sessions. Thereafter, the Court of Appeals and the trial courts followed suit. If the judge did not believe in prayer or in God, the Court did not force him to pray because praying is optional. But the Court encouraged prayer. So, Dean Gil, please don’t apologize. Thank you.
But there’s a little thing I’d like to say. This college is called the Tañada-Diokno School of Law. I think that’s not fair to Senator Jose W. Diokno. The names should be lined up alphabetically. Thus, the school should be called Diokno-Tañada. Since they are deemed equal in honors, how else can you say it except alphabetically? So, Dean Gil, I think we should correct that. You know, Jose W. Diokno happens to be one of my three idols in the profession of law. I’ll explain that later.
Now, it is time greet our partner for the Professorial Chair Program. When I say “our,” I’m speaking for the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity or FLP. Our partner for this project is the Metrobank Foundation (MBF). The MBF President, Secretary Chito Sobrepeña was a Cabinet member during the time of President Cory Aquino. He was the gatekeeper of the Cabinet. He is accompanied by his equally prominent wife, writer par excellence Anna Sobrepeña. Anna, please take a bow with Chito.
Of course, we have the MBF Executive Vice President – actually, he is called Dr. Boyet Dy. You have met him when he delivered the Opening Remarks. He is the new Executive Vice President of the MBF. A young man, forty only – as young as yours truly – but, look at him, he wears an old fashioned suit and tie. Look at me, I wear a Taylor Swift attire. I hope I can dance and sing for three hours like Taylor Swift, can you?
My fellow trustees in the FLP, I will now acknowledge. Dr. Edilberto “DJ” De Jesus is the Chairman of our Education Committee that has direct relationship with this series of professorial lectures. He was also President of the best university in Morayta Street, Manila (renamed to Nicanor Reyes Street). To him and to me, it’s the best in the world — Far Eastern University. He was also President of the Asian Institute of Management. AIM is important to me because that is where my boss, the late Prof. Leni Panganiban, used to work. I say, used to, because she unfortunately left us for the Eternal Kingdom a year ago on April 9, 2023. DJ is a close friend. He has devoted a lot of time to the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity, particularly in our education program.
We have also another trustee, the youngest member of our Board of Trustees, Attorney Arvin Cortez, who is responsible for the University of Caloocan students’ attendance here. I know that they are his students. He asked them to come over. I hope you don’t regret coming over. Where are you? Why are you shy? Raise your hands please… Very good.
Arvin is the founding president of the FLP Scholars Society. FSS is composed of the scholars of our foundation: (1) those who were given scholarships in law at P200,000 per year per student, (2) the winners of our dissertation writing contests where the first prize is awarded P320,000, and (3) the recipients of our recent program called the ESMEL Fellowships for graduate school students taking MBA or equivalent, major in economics, sustainability, management, entrepreneurship, and business law. Each fellowship is awarded P450,000.
I spoke with Arvin a little earlier, and I asked him how many FSS members there are. He replied, “Oh, we have 83; 39 of them are from De La Salle University. Imagine, 39 — composed of 15 winners of our Dissertation Writing Contests, 18 law scholars from De La Salle Manila, 4 from De La Salle Lipa, and one of 10 ESMEL fellows. And finally, one of the five recipients of our new program called Panganiban Educational Assistance Program (PEAP). The recipients are the children of the staff of the FLP, my personal staff at home, as well as the poor children of my relatives. That’s why, it’s called Panganiban Education Assistance Program. The PEAP is sustained by the income derived from a hotel condominium unit in the Hotel 101 in Taguig, donated to the Foundation by its chairman, Edgar “Injap” Sia. We have one condo unit there that produces about P200,000 to P300,000 net income per year. So, PEAP will survive my death. One of the five recipients of the PEAP is from De La Salle Dasmariñas.
Finally, let me greet the students and faculty of De La Salle University.
Stipend for Dean Diokno
Ladies and gentlemen, before I proceed, I think I should call Dean Diokno back here at the stage so he could receive his stipend for delivering elegantly his well-researched lecture. Very important, right? The stipend is P150,000 less 10% withholding tax. May I ask the President and the Executive Vice President of the Metrobank Foundation, and the two FLP trustees I greeted earlier to please come up to the stage and assist me.
[Turn-over of stipend and photo op]
Dean Diokno, please stay in the stage with me and sit on the chair reserved for you. I thank Dean Diokno for such a well-prepared, well-delivered, well-researched piece. He reminds me of one of my three favorite lawyers when I was a young man, up to now. And I’ll say them in alphabetical order: Jose W. Diokno, Jovito R. Salonga, and Claudio Teehankee.
I used to be a student of Dr. Salonga at FEU. And when I passed the bar examinations, he took me into his law office for three years. Salonga was a bar topnotcher, an honor graduate of that famous law school in Diliman, finished his masters at Harvard, and his doctorate in law at Yale. That’s very significant because very few people in the world ever graduate from both the law schools of Harvard and Yale. The most important teaching of Senator Salonga to me is this: “While it is important to have the things that money can buy, like food on the table, clothing on our backs, a house for our family, even a car, please remember that it is far more important to have the things that money cannot buy like dignity, honor, respect, integrity, and the loving presence of God in our lives. I cannot forget him not only because he taught me law, but also because he taught me life. He deeply esteemed and respected two fellow lawyers, Senator Diokno and Chief Justice Teehankee.
As an associate in his law office, I used to carry his briefcase whenever he went to court. He would tell me, “Artemio, be careful in preparing the trial brief in this case. Our opponent is Jose W. Diokno. Magaling siya, di puedeng siyang bolahin. Please prepare our trial brief very well.” Same way with then Atty. Claudio Teehankee who used to be a partner of Senator Lorenzo Tañada. Tañada-Teehankee, that is the name of their law firm.
Jose W. Diokno, Sui Generis
Let me go back to Senator Jose W. Diokno. JWD is a sui generis. He was a bar topnotcher. Number one, tied with Senator Salonga in the same year. But what is so unique about him? He is sui generis because he did not finish the four-year law course. He was taught by his father who was a justice of the Supreme Court. Inspite of not finishing a four-year course in law, he was given special permission to take the bar examination which he topped, tied with Senator Salonga.
One time, we had a case where he was the opposing lawyer. I was in my first year as a lawyer, as an assistant of Dr. Salonga who was for the plaintiff and Jose W. Diokno was for the defense in an inheritance case. The trial before the old Court of First Instance in Pasay that is now called Regional Trial Courts was a delight. For me, it was a spectacle watching them cross swords.
One early morning, Senator Salonga called me over the phone, “Artemio, I’m not feeling well. I have a bad stomach. I have LBM. Please attend the session tomorrow in the sala of Judge Angel Mojica.” I was shocked because, you know, I was a new lawyer. I was just his briefcase carrier. I was just a bench warmer in the courtroom drama between two legal eagles. He said, “Don’t ask for postponement because we have an agreement that there will be no postponement of the trials.”
And so I went to court, knowing practically nothing of the case except what I wrote as a brief for Dr. Salonga. He was not yet a Senator at that time; he was a practicing lawyer.
When the case was called, of course, I stood up, “Ready for the plaintiff, your honor.” Jose W. Diokno stood up, “Ready for the defense.” And Judge Mojica looked at me, askance (He used to be my professor) and asked, “Where is Attorney Salonga?” I replied, “Your Honor, he called me up early this morning, and told me, “Please attend the hearing, and do not ask for postponement.”
“Are you ready, Attorney Panganiban?” asked Judge Mojica. “Ready, Your Honor.” I nervously replied. JWD stood up and said, “Your Honor, we have an agreement not to postpone this case; that we will try it until its end, but next week we have another hearing. In fairness to my young compañero, may I ask for a postponement?” Judge Mojica boomed, “Any objection, Attorney Panganiban?”
I stood up again and I replied, “No objection.”
I am telling you this incident to show that JWD was a gentleman; he could have taken advantage of me, ran roughshod of me. I was shaking in my boots, although I did not want to show it; after all, he was my idol, along with Salonga and Teehankee.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is Jose W. Diokno, a sui generis, an unusual lawyer, and his advocacy is human rights. He was the founding chair of the Commission on Human Rights. There are more stories I can tell you about Jose W. Diokno, but I’m here to talk about his son who is equally, in my opinion, as excellent, as well-prepared, as eloquent, and as great a lawyer as his father. The only thing lacking for him is the title, “Senator.” (applause). Marami kang admirers dito, Chel.
Human Rights in the World
Now, I’m very happy about this lecture, probably one of the best, if not the best, I’ve heard in our professorial series. We have had 17 lectures and, to repeat, this is one of the best. We are producing a book, an anthology of lectures. Of course, Dean Diokno’s lecture will be printed there.
We promote liberty and prosperity under the rule of law. That is the mission of the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity, and it happens to be my own philosophy of law. First, we say, safeguard the liberty of our people. Liberty as a generic term, of course, includes human rights. And this piece of Chel Diokno is a refreshing addition to what we know already of liberty.
The international recognition of human rights as a component of business, as Dean Diokno explained, started from the United Nations, and then, it spread to many countries, and then to Southeast Asia, and then to our country. What we need really is a National Action Plan (NAP) that will be incorporated as part of the laws of our country and then implemented in action formats. He outlined not just the theory, not just the reality, but the needed National Action Plan to implement it.
We safeguard liberty in the FLP – under the rule of law. In authoritarian regimes, they say, “Oh, we also have human rights.” I dare object because their human rights, their libertarian rights are not protected by “the rule of law.” They are under the rule of one, the dictator, the authoritarian ruler. That’s not the way we want it, isn’t it? We want it under the UN Resolutions, under the various covenants, and in our case, under our Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Principles and State Policies of our Constitution. On the flip side of the FLP coin is the “nurturing of prosperity” for our people. In the FLP, we nurture prosperity by helping those who cannot help themselves through private entrepreneurship.
Not just profit, but growth and the national interest
Now, a question was raised during the open forum about listed companies’ reaction to human rights. And someone said that the end of business is profit. That’s not necessarily true. Not the ones I know of, because growth is important. The share price of listed company is perhaps the most important factor that investors watch. If you are going to look at the statistics, some companies make a lot of money, but they have a very low share price.
Probably they have what we call a PE — price earnings ratio of only 5. In other words, although they earn a lot, their share price is only 5 times their earnings. If the company, let’s say, earns one peso, the listed share is sold at 5 pesos. That’s not good, because it means that it’s not a desirable company. There are many companies like that.
But there are also other companies where the PE is about 30 or even 40, meaning the price paid for each share is 30 or 40 times the earning. So, the earning you get as a shareholder is only 1/40, meaning you pay 40 times for the earnings of the company, whereas in the other one you pay only 5 times. So, in this case, if the earning of the company is one peso. You pay 40 pesos per share, and yet many people buy the shares.
There are many reasons for that phenomenon. Number one is growth. Because there is growth for the company, and with growth the share price goes higher. The investors, the big investors look not only at profit but growth, stability, cash flow, debt to equity ratio and EBITDA (earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortization). And many times, they look also at the ESG programs of the company, that was earlier already explained during the open forum. The point is that investors, especially the big-time investors look beyond profits. They look for ESG, and in this case they will look for the protection of human rights. What I’m saying is, if we can, we all of us, led by Dean Diokno can imbed this not only with the corporations, but with the big investors, the big investors will require from the companies to honor, respect, and give remedies to human rights. Also, if we can convince the banks to lend only to companies that respect, protect and remedy human rights, nay, constitutional rights, then we’ve got it made.
To stress, my suggestion, or addition to what Dean Diokno already said, is this: Let us convince the investors, not just the companies, to demand the observance of the PRR of human rights and the banks to lend only to companies that observe the PRR.
Let us look at the biggest companies in the Philippines like San Miguel. What did Ramon Ang, its President, say: “What is good for the country is good for my business so I must be a patriot and protect what is good for my country. After all, even if I lose a little on one side, I will make a little on the other side. On the overall, I’m alright, I promote the country.” Because his businesses encompass food, power generation, petroleum, toll roads, airports and other infrastructures, he believes – correctly in my opinion – whatever is good for our people and our country in general is good for San Miguel.
What I am saying is that there are aspects we must learn to promote our advocacy for human rights in business. Dean Diokno said that we need not be confrontational. Because if you are confrontational, the other side becomes hostile, and you will not get what you want. I should know. In the Supreme Court, the cases are always confrontational between the plaintiff and the defendant, between the petitioner and the respondent. One wins and the other loses. But with mediation and other nonconfrontational mode, both parties win. Or at least, there is no big loser.
Peaceful Settlement of Business Conflicts
Note, however, that the judiciary, starting from the Supreme Court, encourages peaceful settlement. The Rules of Court mandate mediation. Even criminal cases are now settled. The Court encourages peace, isn’t it? And even more than that, the Court imbedded the alternative dispute resolution methods as parts of trial court proceedings. Peaceful settlement of disputes is especially mandated in business. Businessmen and businesses do not like long litigations because they are not good for business. Today, in almost every major contract, the parties stipulate what we call “arbitration clauses” in which the decision of the arbitral tribunal is final and unappealable.
Arbitration clauses provide, for instance, the venue of arbitration, the governing law and the arbitral tribunal, e.g., the ICSID in Washington, DC and the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. In the Philippines, we have two major settlement organizations, the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRCI) and the PICCR of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
We have many internationally recognized arbitrators in the Philippines. For instance, there are four Filipinos who are members of the permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague. Until August 2023, there were four of us – retired Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, retired Justice Jose Vitug, and retired Judge Raul Pangalangan of the International Criminal Court, and yours truly. Our 6-year terms ended last August, almost a year ago, and four replacements came in. Judge Pangalangan took my place as chairman of the Philippine group. I am speaking of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in Geneva. It is older than the International Court of Justice. It celebrated its 125th anniversary in August last year. So, arbitration is older than judicial combat in the international scenery. Well, you learned that in international law, so I will no longer belabor it.
I would like to end by saying how happy and honored I am that Dean Diokno, like his father, delivered a jewel of a lecture that we will always remember. Whenever I see Chel, I am always reminded of his father whom I really, really admire, and that admiration flows to his son. That’s why at the beginning of my Closing Remarks, I said he is the worthy son of a worthy father. One day, I would like to see him in the Senate, so he will become another JWD.
Thank you very much.
The Personal Website of Retired Chief Justice Panganiban 