DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The inclusion of former President Rodrigo Duterte among the recipients of a lifetime award for lawyers was criticized among members of the legal community.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Davao Chapter conferred earlier this week the Golden Pillar of Law Award to Duterte, an award recognizing lawyers who have served more than 50 years in the legal profession with good standing. Duterte was a member of the Davao City Prosecution Office from 1977 to 1979 before entering Davao politics in 1988.
But the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) point out that the former president’s current detention awaiting trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity in The Hague, Netherlands stand in contrast to the award’s criteria of a lawyer “in good standing”.
“The UPLM is deeply concerned that celebrating a lawyer whose official acts are under investigation for crimes against humanity appears inconsistent with the spirit and letter of (our) solemn oath,” the group said in a statement.
The group explained that the Lawyer’s Oath is “a solemn vow to uphold the rule of law, justice, truth and the rights of the people” which they said Duterte failed to do.
“Honoring an individual who has a public record of ignoring due process, e.g., utilizing extrajudicial “drug matrices” to persecute suspected drug addicts and criminals—lists which he later admitted contained grave errors—raises serious questions about the standards being promoted by the country’s national organization of lawyers,” the group added.
Meanwhile, a recipient of the award, retired Judge Meinrado Paredes of Cebu, announced he is giving back his award to the IBP because of Duterte’s inclusion.
“I do not believe that former President Duterte has upheld the ideals of justice, integrity, and the rule of law. His regime was characterized by the rule of the gun, not of law, as extrajudicial killings and other violations of human rights were rampant. He has blood debts. There is no rule of law if human beings are killed without due process. There is no justice and due process if drug suspects are killed like stray dogs in the streets. He is the principal accused of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court,” Paredes wrote in a letter addressed to the IBP National President Allan Panlolong.
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With these statements, the IBP National Office announced through its Facebook post on October 9 that it will review its recognition protocols following the controversy.
“To this end, the IBP will review its recognition protocols to ensure that future honors reflect both integrity of service and fidelity to the ideals of justice. In doing so, we affirm that to honor service must never be to forget accountability, and that reflection within institutions is itself an act of justice,” the IBP said.
The IBP Davao Chapter had released a statement clarifying their conferment of the award to the former president is not a political endorsement but rather based on “objective professional qualifications”. The chapter also awarded 26 other lawyers in Davao.
“While the Chapter recognizes that certain members of the legal community have expressed their personal sentiments against the conferment of the award, we must also be reminded that as lawyers, we are duty-bound to rise above biases and to uphold this fundamental precept of our justice system: that judgment must rest on evidence and final conviction, not mere perceptions, and every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” the IBP Davao explained.
UPLM reacted to this statement. “For a member of the legal profession, actions and policies that undermine the rule of law and are linked to grave human rights violations cannot be divorced from one’s professional standing. They are not simply political acts but matters that strike at the heart of our duties as officers of the court,” the lawyers’ group said.
UPLM leaders had been conferred by the IBP with distinguished awards, including the first Human Rights Award given to UPLM Chairperson Atty. Antonio Azarcon in December 2024, while former Secretary General Carlos Isagani Zarate was awarded the IBP President’s Award in January 2025 for doing pro-bono human rights lawyering.
