BY ATTY. JULIUS GREGORY B. DELGADO
A LETTER OF FATHER TO HIS SON ABOUT THE LAW – PART II
For men and women of this kind, our country will have need – and now, more than ever. True, there is little that men of good will can do now to end this madness that holds our nation in its grip. But we can, even now, scrutinize our past; try to pinpoint where we went wrong; to determine what led to this madness and what nurtured it; and how, when it ends, we can make sure that is need never happen again.
For this madness must end – if not in my lifetime, at least in yours. We Filipinos are proverbially patient, and we are also infinitely tough and ingeniously resourceful. Our entire history as a people has been a quest for freedom and dignity; and will not be denied our dream.
So this madness will end; the rule of force will yield to the rule of law. Then, the country will need its great lawyers, its great engineers, its great economists and managers, the best of its men and women to clear the shambles and restore the foundations of that noble and truly Filipino society for which our forefathers fought, bled and died.
So, there are two sides to the question of whether it is worth your while to study law; and, in the end, it is a question that only you can answer.
Just be sure that, whatever be your decision, it is truly yours, that it is really what you want, not a choice dictated by a sense of duty to follow in my footsteps.
That the rewards of the law as a profession are not in wealth or even in fame, but in the respect of your peers, in the excitement of the chase after justice, and in the satisfaction not only of service to your clients but of having somehow shaped the future by molding the law of today.
This has been a long letter on a short question -– whether to study law -– and is not an example to be emulated should you decide to in favor of law. My excuse is that time lies heavy on my hands in these days of detention, and since we can talk only in snatches when you visit, I have written in length in the ope of anticipating some of your questions.
You may suspect that, by stressing the difficulties of the law profession and by suggesting that you read some eight books before making up our mind, I am trying to discourage you from studying law. I am not. In a rather heavy-handed way, I am trying to paint the lawyers role as accurately as I can and show you that, if you do decide to become a lawyer, you must prepare yourself for a lifetime of study, reading, weighing and deciding, while at the same time acting and doing. It sounds impossible – but every day it has been and is being done.
I have loved the law; and I have always been proud of being a lawyer. But I have never been prouder than the day, five Sundays ago, that you told me you wanted to study law. Regardless of what you may finally decide, the fact that you even thought of becoming a lawyer despite my arrest and detention, allows me to hope that I have not failed as a lawyer and as a father.
For that, son, thanks.
Your father, (Signed) Jose W. Diokno