BY ATTY. JULIUS GREGORY B. DELGADO
A LETTER OF FATHER TO HIS SON ABOUT THE LAW – PART I
As stated in his previous column, the next piece this representation will share is about a Letter of a father who is a lawyer to his son who aspired and is now an equally great lawyer. During Martial Law, former Senator and one of the greatest Filipino lawyers, Jose W. Diokno, wrote a Letter to his son Jose Ramon. The Letter dated October 23, 1972, was written by the elder Diokno while incarceration. The Letter is long so I will divide the same in two parts.
Dear Popoy,
When you asked me, about a month ago, for a list of books that you could read to start studying law, I was loathe to prepare the list because I felt you would be wasting your time studying law in this “new society.”
I am not still not sure that it would be worth your while to do so. A few days ago, while chatting with a soldier, he asked, in all seriousness and sincerity, “Pero sir, kailangan pa ba ang mga abogado ngayon?”And in a way that perhaps he did not intend, he raised a perfectly valid question.
A lawyer lives in and by law: and there is no justice when men and women are imprisoned not only without guilt, but without trial.
A lawyer must work in freedom: and there is no freedom when conformity is extracted by fear, and criticism silenced by force.
A lawyer builds on facts. He must seek truth: and there is no truth when facts are suppressed, news is manipulated and charges are fabricated.
Worse, when the constitution is invoked to justify outrages against freedom, truth and justice, when democracy is destroyed under the pretext of saving it, law is not only denied – it is perverted.
And what need do your people have for men and women who would practice perversion?
Yet the truth remains true that never have our people had greater need than today for great lawyers, and for young men and women determined to be great lawyers.
As you read, cultivate the habit I have never been able to school myself to do of taking notes of your reading – not only the gist of what the author says, or quotations of thoughts he felicitously expresses, but also of your resolutions to his work (where you agree or disagree or suspend judgment, and why), and of thoughts he arouses in you. File your notes in orderly fashion. They will become invaluable to you as you mature.
After you read enough to give you an idea what a lawyer is and does, but before you firmly commit yourself, one way or the other, discus the matter with your wife and your friends, always bearing these things in mind:
That the law is a demanding profession, exacting a constant and unwavering devotion that is always a thinking obedience to its ideals, and that is much harder to give than blind obedience.
Great lawyers – not brilliant lawyers. A scoundrel may be, and often is, brilliant: and the greater the scoundrel, the more brilliant the lawyer. But only a good man can become a great lawyer: for only a man who understands the weaknesses of men because he has conquered them in himself: to be unattainable: who tempers his convictions with respect for those of others because he realizes he may be mistaken: who deals honorably and fairly with all, because to do otherwise would diminish him as well as them – only such a man could so command respect that he could persuade and need never resort to force. Only such a man could become a great lawyer. Otherwise, “what you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you say.