February 4, 2007

When Lawyers Become Saviors

By P.B. Masdal |

Posted In : Philippine Politics

I HAVE TO BE CLEAR HERE FIRST, I do not carry any rancor against lawyers and the law profession as a whole because for one I was once a barrister before—-one who had endured long days and nights reading thick and heavy law books. Yet, there is this general perception that lawyers are almost always out there just to make quick bucks, even to the extent of pilfering truth and bending facts just to make it through the day. Some believed that an honest lawyer is one who won’t be spending a lot of hours appearing in court.

But that is just merely a perception, I must be clear with that and so I would not personally adhere to these misconstrued notion for I personally know a lot of lawyers who are as noble as what could reasonably be expected of an individual serving the public—-either thru personal practice or thru government service.

Now I guess, we all should be thankful for lawyers for they (some amongst them specifically) could just save this nation from being shortchanged from having political leaders whose ability are of great question or clearly not suited to the office they are aiming at. If Richard Gomez and Edu Manzano will enter the senatorial fray—-as they are primed to do with certainty—-they would most probably win. I am not good at predicting election reslts but if I had the money, I’d gamble them in favor of both actors winning it all. They may even end-up as topnotchers after the smoke had cleared this coming June. That means, the number of entertainers in Senate would increase radically; in addition to Senator Lito Lapid (which I could be a little harsh because the man did had gained some experience as a provincial governor), Senator Bong Revilla and Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

I could not help but analyze as early as now how Mr. Gomez and Mr. Manzano could ever execute their duties properly as senators of this nation. Maybe making laws is not that hard afterall, just like eating pizza. I am sure naming or renaming a street or an avenue thru the enactment of a law is not that difficult; one just have to know what name to be changed and of course the exact location of the place to be named.

But in my mind, lawmaking is not merely giving names to streets and avenues. It takes a lot of initiative and great feel of the nation. What is the problem of this nation? What does the people needs? What needs to be done? What economic policy could work best? Or is it of wisdom to retain VFA? Such and such things.

And of course, one have to know the “whereas” sections as well as “wherefore” part of any resolution. The body should always result to the conclusion. I bet they should know that.

That’s why I feel somehow relieved to know that some lawyers may be sitting beside Mr. Gomez when he finally sit on the august hall of the senate, whispering this and that. I hope he or she would be whispering “don’t open your mouth” often for that would lessen the clutter now appertaining in Congress.

And what do you know, these lawyers might just author some good laws in silence; that is, tutoring others to make laws and as a result creating laws themselves.

Do I hear “unsung heroes” here? Quite possibly.

21 Comments »

1. snglguy says; February 4, 2007 @ 6:29 pm

   What? They are going to hire lawyers to do their job for them? And using public funds I bet. This kind of reminds me of Lito Lapid and his coterie of “consultants” and “advisers”. What has he done lately anyway?

   This country ought to wake up and smell the brewed coffee…

2. snglguy says; February 4, 2007 @ 6:31 pm

   Hmmm, what happened to my comment?

3. vic says; February 4, 2007 @ 8:55 pm

   major tom, something going on with your spam killer. can’t post my comments, no matter which way.

4. vic says; February 4, 2007 @ 8:58 pm

   we have seen them all, a topnotch university acauired degree and post graduates ones from ivy leaguer, but most often than not it don’t mean squat at all. Lesser Educated Men and Women have come to be known for political prowess and distinguished themselves like any other individuals in Political Arenas.

   In a mature democracy, a person educational qualifications or personal experience are not even a pre-requisite or necessary to an elected office. I have seen high school drop outs became outstanding political leaders, loved and respected by its constituent and have seen geniuses despised and vilified for their performance.

   But going back to the subject of the post, it is the people behind the Politicians, the advisers, the lawyers, the economists, the public health and public safety experts and all other Good People to give them the options of actions and policies.

   And in a strong party system of government like ours and some of the others, the party hierarchy and its executives will help guide the members to their action in line with the party ideology and programs, and principles. To me any person with a clean slate and functioning organs between his/her two ears could be a making of a great Politician, unless the issue of personal greed and egos and interest hijack his/her agenda along the way.

5. bing says; February 5, 2007 @ 12:59 am

   lawyers are saviors of the good and the bad..

6. eric says; February 5, 2007 @ 8:29 am

   Gone are the days when we had admirable and true statesmen senators.

7. verns says; February 5, 2007 @ 11:15 am

   my comments gone…great!

8. Major Tom says; February 5, 2007 @ 2:10 pm

   FIRST OF ALL, I would like to apologize for the comments funtioning improperly, I might need

   to check my captcha spam codes and recode it.

   To sngl: Every pol has that I think, a coterie of whisperers and it’s not really a bad think

   but it worries me that some pol may just depend on these advisers for everything that needs

   to be done in office—-or almost everything. That’ll make their political positioning a

   useless and waste of time. When the country has lots of problems, the least we need are

   pretenders in office.

   To vic: Its very true vic. President Magsaysay was like that, a self-made man, and countless

   many others. But it seems that they are exceptions than what is ordinary. I have nothing

   against entertainers, and I agree fully that even if one has not such great amount of

   education, one can be a great politician. However, there are some in our midst right now who

   for many years—-given many chances——did not or have not shown enough sincerity to serve

   the people, as they go along with their lives living the so-called ‘air-conditioned life’;

   sa bahay air-conditioned, sa kotse airconditioned, sa trabaho airconditioned pa rin. And now

   suddenly they say they want to serve the people? It just do not feel right I think.

   To bing: Very exact bing, like any other profession, no one can really be perfect. Although

   sa mga abugado, medyo madalas ma-perceive na they could do everything, even bending the

   facts.

   To eric: Yeah, I wonder how it felt to live in an era of Claro M. Recto, Manuel L. Quezon,

   and the likes. The nearest we could get near to such noble politician is Ninoy Aquino.

   To verns: Sorry talaga verns, hindi ko na-retrieve ang comments mo. My spam checker seem to be behaving queerly. I hope you can comment again.

9. Major Tom says; February 5, 2007 @ 9:40 pm

   erer

10. cruise says; February 6, 2007 @ 12:43 pm

    dumadami na ang bilangng amga celebrity sa government, marami ring potential na artista sa government, sana mag artista nalang yung ibang politician, hihihi

11. Major Tom says; February 6, 2007 @ 1:27 pm

    To cruise: sana nga pre. hindi naman sa wala talaga silang galing sa politics but the chances of bad political careers on their part is so great.

12. bw says; February 8, 2007 @ 10:23 am

    IMHO Manzano and Gomez , if they were to become senators must be able and willing to participate in the lawmaking process as part of their job description. True, there is a learning curve for inexperienced politicians to get a handle on how the political process works and that is a given. It is incumbent upon Gomez and Manzano to excercise their due diligence in learning the tricks of the trade. The saving grace of lawyers and experts to bail them out of their bind in my opinion diminishes the sanctity of the votes the people cast to elect them.

13. bw says; February 8, 2007 @ 10:24 am

    major tom, what happened to my post ? It didn’t register!

14. Major Tom says; February 8, 2007 @ 9:46 pm

    Oh, so sorry for the inconvenience bro, my spam checker is going nuts recently. I’ll retrieve it ASAP…

15. Major Tom says; February 9, 2007 @ 7:19 pm

    To BW: It also becomes a farce, like there’d be situations where the ones who performs the duty won’t actually be the one elected by the population. That is to me so unkindly of our political system…

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