No dynasty
Incidentally, please know that I am not batting for my sons candidacy because I want to defy any legal or moral standards. There is no law or moral rule that says that if you are the son of Nene Pimentel, ‘thou shall not run for the Senate.’ Neither is it my intention to start a dynasty to protect my personal interests.
I have no political interests to protect. As a public servant, my life is an open book. I do not need any member of my family to get into public office to save me from the penal consequences of any corruption or wrongdoing. Getting involved in corrupt deals or public misdeeds, by the way, is something I have avoided like a plague through all the years of my public service as a Constitutional Convention Delegate, City Mayor, Assemblyman, DBP Director, Cabinet Member, Chief Negotiator with the Moro rebels, Senate President, and, now as the Minority Leader of the Senate.
Dues paid
I have also paid my dues for standing up for the rights of our people even during the parlous years of martial law. As a consequence, I was imprisoned four times and thrown out of office twice without any rhyme or reason.
I mention this facet of my life only to assure you that in public service, I seek only the public good. And I guarantee that AQUILINO PIMENTEL will do likewise with the grace of the Almighty, with your vote and the help of our people. By the way, he also has a platform of government that I humbly suggest you read at your leisure. It is appended to the printed copy of this speech for easy reference.
But to go back to the general appeal that I am trying to make to the lawyer members of the Boards of Canvassers, may I respectfully remind them that their oaths as lawyers and as public officials demand that they perform their duties accurately and well.
If they do not discharge their duties faithfully, they would condemn not only themselves but also our people to suffer from the ill effects of misgovernment and misrule for years on end.
A race of heroes
But if they do their work according to the law, then, after the elections, we as a people can breathe easy and claim proudly before the world that we are not born to criminality or to be election cheats. But, that, we belong to a race that produced a Rizal, an Andres Bonifacio, a Gregorio del Pilar, a Ninoy Aquino, a Pepe Diokno, a Lorenzo Taada a people who value honor, dignity and decency in our lives to such a degree that we are willing to pay the supreme sacrifice whenever needed for the sake of God and country.
To conclude, let me sum up, the message of this talk:
1. As lawyers, we must safeguard the human rights and the fundamental liberties of our people even as the government implements the Human Security Act.* It is never right to sacrifice human rights and our basic freedoms in the guise of fighting terrorism, and
2. As lawyers, let us help keep the elections clean. If the elections are dishonest, we put bad people in government. And bad government would be a disaster waiting to explode in a societal upheaval from which nobody would emerge victorious.
It is good to remind ourselves that even good laws are only as good as they are implemented well by good people. And there is always a need for vigilance from the citizens and especially from us, as lawyers.
After all, as the anti-slavery proponent, Wendell Philipps said in 1852, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
God bless.
Salamat.
2007 Elections, Terrorism
