By Ellen Tordesillas
All the lawyers in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, both of the prosecution and the defense, boast that they are participating in the most important legal event in the country today, pro bono.
Wikipedia says the term pro bono comes from Pro bono public which means for the public good. It is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service.
It's human nature to want to get something for nothing. The trait cuts across economic classes. That's why senior citizens in Makati, rich or poor, love former Mayor Jojo Binay for giving them a lot of freebies including free movies.
In fact in many cases, it has become a status symbol because it means you know somebody important who gave you a free ticket.
I remember a shipping company manager complaining of politicians and influential personalities who were fond of asking for free tickets when they can very well afford them.
Members are media are used to being given freebies that in some cases they demand for them. I cringe every time I hear radio reporters asking sources, even jokingly, for free merienda or gifts. Can't you buy your own merienda?
Although some of those freebies are really given without any string attached, we all know that in our Filipino culture of utang-na-loob, it complicates some issues.
Just like in the case of members of the defense panel led by retired Supreme Court associate justice Serafin Cuevas acting as lawyer of Corona pro bono.
Former Sen. Rene Saguisag raised it in a media forum and Rep. Rudy Fariñas said it in the impeachment court.
Saguisag said, "Under Rule 504 of the Code of Judicial Conduct, a judge or any member of his family shall not accept ay gift or favor."
How Fariñas raised it in the impeachment court is the undoing of Cuevas himself.
Cuevas commented about the prosecution's manifestation of additional private prosecutors that would be coming in to assist Fariñas who would be one of the prosecutors in Article 3 of the charges against Corona which accuses the Chief Justice of having "committed culpable violations of the Constitution and betrayed the public trust by failing to meet and observe the stringent standards under Art.VIII, section 7 of the Constitution…"
Cuevas said, "With this avalanche of private prosecutors, there may be a necessity of an additional P10 million appropriation to take care of them."
"That's our money. That's the money of the taxpayer,Your Honor," Cuevas pontificated.
That gave an opening for Fariñas, who was speaking for the first time in the impeachment trial to point out the ethical issue in Corona accepting free legal assistance from Cuevas. ""Because they are giving their gift, their services, for free to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and they come from big law firms and have pending cases before the Supreme Court," he said.
In what appears to be a backhanded compliment, the Ilocos Norte (1st district) representative said, "That his lawyers are known to be very competent and charge high rates (de campanilla), yet they give their services for free, this situation could be detrimental to the independence of the Chief Justice."
"What we are saying is that it is illegal for a public official to accept gifts of great material value," he added.
Corona, with his millions, could very well afford to pay the fees of his legal team. But he himself stressed that his de campanilla lawyers were giving their services for free. Maybe he didn't think of the ethical implications.
That's a reflection of his sense of ethics.
8 comments