Chief Justice Puno: re-engineer the legal system to give the poor greater rights and better protection
“Law will never reign if they who rule are too few and rule to serve their own interest.”
Thus Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno summarized the Philippine reality of the law serving more the interests of those who are in power, rather than those who most need them.
In his talk given during the 1st Alphan Lecture Series on 27 February 2009, the Chief Justice reiterated the need to make the law responsive to the needs of the poor and marginalized. “Unless they find law a friend, they will later treat law as their enemy. They will resist law if all they experience is its lawlessness.”
The Lecture, attended by students, professors, and people’s organizations from different marginalized sectors – informal settlers, women, fishers, and farmers – emphasized on the need to empower the poor by using the law as a tool to gain access to democratic institutions and processes.
“The four pillars of legal empowerment of the poor are acquisition of property rights, business rights, labor rights, and access to justice. These will enable the poor to fight for equality and help them gain significance in society,” the Chief Justice said.
He, however, underscored that legal empowerment must not be equated to ‘charity’ to the poor. “Legal empowerment is about endowing the poor with rights, arming them with the tools to enforce these rights in our judicial system.”
In sponsoring the Lecture together with the Economic, Social, Cultural Rights – Asia, and the Alternative Law Groups, the Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity highlighted the responsibility of law students to become ‘Abogado para sa bayan [lawyers for the nation]’ after they graduate and pass the bar exams.
The Alphan Lecture Series on the Emancipation from Poverty through Legal Empowerment is the first in a series of talks to be given by eminent Alphans in celebration of the Fraternity’s 70th Anniversary. ##