For me not to he grateful and appreoauve of the tare award that the University of the Philippines has deemed proper to con- fer upon me this day would beless than human. It is an un- solicited honor all the more precious to me and mine because of the reputation enjoyed by this institution, that to this day re- mains the touchstone, and the standard, by which all other law schools of this country are tested. Itwas also in these halls that we of the class of 1922 were trained in the element'S and intri- cacies of the law, and received our first law degrees fifry long years ago.
Dean Irene Cortes, the first woman in a line of illustrious Deans that brought this College to the peak of fame, has further honored me with a request to address this year's graduates, and it is my sincere pleasure to compliment them for their aca- demic attainments and salute them as already full fledged members of the bar. Itis not overly sanguine to do so considering the bril- liant record of successes set by the College of Law, thanks to the constant and unsparing efforts of its Deans and faculty. What- ever failure should occur in the ranks of these graduates may well be attributed, not to deficient preparation, but to the "barbs of outrageous fortune."
Twenty-five years of service in the bench spent in hearing parries and counsel have taught me the virtue of listening and the eloquence of silence; how far better it is to have an audience woo- der why one keeps silent, rather than let it marvel at his daring to speak. Let me be content to remind you that we face a society at present riven and strained by dissent and violence, confused by conflicting ideas and ideologies, each group pro- claiming to be the sale possessor of truth, each raucously asserting its mission to drive us to salvation with or without the consent of those who are to be saved. Into this vortex of unbridled pas- sions. it will bethe task of the law practitioners to bring in the element of reason and sanity that can redress the disturbed equi- librium and revive common sense, order and peace. For the law- yers embody the constant devotion to the cause of justice-to give everyone his due. "las est cons/am et perpett/aoolantas jus suum cuiqae tribuere;"
The lawyer by training is oriented to calm and orderly die- logue, to gather and weigh actual facrs and factors before reach- ing a conclusion, rejecting unproved assumptions and rumors.
His calling is the very antithesis of unreasoning fanaticism that entertains no views but its own. The law profession demands of its practitioners truth, loyalty and honor with regard to courts, clients and opponents, and they are for this reason eminently qualified to lead us back to normalcy and sobriety.
Yet the path of the peacemaker is difficult and thorny. To play such a role, the bar, traditionally regarded as the ally of wealth and privilege, can nor rest conrenr to practice time-honored
virtues of devoting to every case ceaseless study and labor that knows neither office hours nor days of rest. The bar must strive to gain the confidence of the poor, the downtrodden and the dis- contented by taking the initiative in the struggle for social re- form and the fight against crime and against oppressions and exploitation, political or economic, investigating and exposing all malfeasances from whatever source. It must ever be alert to counter all influences, open or insidious, that tend to keep us in perpetual dependence and to frustrate the legitimate aspira- tions of Filipinos to build a nation and a future for themselves and their posterity.
I should like to see the bar, at least those of irs leaders who have already attained sufficient means to place themselves and their families beyond the risk of want, to forego the mer. . ' chandising habit of placing their talents and skills at the service only of those able or willing to pay the highest price therefor. let them exercise discernment in the selection of those whom they would serve, always subordinating private profit to what will foster the genuine interests of the nation. Let them devote most of their time, energy and ingenuity to the service of the weak and the oppressed, mifidful thar in the quest for justice through legal processes, the so-called "equal protection of the laws" often proves to be a myth; for the rich and the poor, the weak and the powerful are never equal unless equivalent talents are placed in the service of both. Only thus can we ex- pect a just society, that will accept the rule of law and reject force and violence.
An indispensible complement for (he tasks outlined is of course a truly independent and impartial judiciary, having merit as the sale qualification for selection, promotion and tenure, heeding no bearing except truth and justice. It is needless to remind you that the present methods, where a judge's merits are pas~ed upon. by the executive and the legislature, not only • when first appointed, but every time the judge is promoted or transferred, is hardly conducive to the establishment of an im- parrial judiciary. To obtain these reforms, the lawyers, young and old, must band together and present a solid front, relegating to the background all individual rivalry. The impending realiza- tion of an integrated bar will immeasurably contribute to their just demands being listened to in spheres hitherto impervious to their clamor.
I shall conclude by pleading with the new graduates that they indelibly engrave in their hearts a maxim we have inherited from the great lawyers of antiquity-"Non 0111ne quod licet bonestum
eSJ." Not everything that is permitted is honorable. Do not cquare law, which is but the tool, with justice, that is the ultimate goal. Ever abide in the ways of honor and may the Almighty be with you.
APRIL
30, 1972
UP. GAZEITE47
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT: I\1ID.TERi\1 VIEW OF THE UNIVERSITY
(Speech delivered at the Commencement Exercises oj the U.P. Graduate School, 23 April 1972) By
President Salvador P. Lopez University of the Philippines
•
•
I propose to discuss on this occasion the present state of the University. The campus, as you know, has been relatively quiet since September last year when OUf administrative workers went on strike for higher wages and were supported bythe students.
A three-week boycott of classes followed which almost led to the cancellation of the semester. Emergency remedial teaching procedures, including tutorial, had to be instituted. The semester was saved, but the drop-our rate went up and many students lost their scholarships. This proved that the U.P. faculty is basically agroup of no-nonsense academics, who were determined to hold the line against the attempt to disrupr the academic operations of the University.
If I sound rather more conservative than I am reputed to be, it is because people forget that I have been an old-fashioned liberal all my life. I believe in freedom, and I prefer an excess of freedom to a dearth of freedom. With freedom men can grow towards goodness, b~ty and truth; without it, the human spirit withers and then dies. ButI have never advocated or jus- tified violence in human affairs. I believe that violence is attended by an ineluctable fatality: violence breeds violence, and whoever lives by the sword shall perish by the sword. However, violence does exist in many forms and under various disguises.
For example. the exploitation of the tenant by the landlord or of the worker bythe capitalist is a form of violence no less cruel or condemnable because it is disguised. We must there- fore accept the reality of violence and deal with it as rationally as we can.
During the February 1971 incident in U.P. Diliman, some sec- tors of the press and public as well as of our own communirj blamed me for "coddling" the student rebels who had thrown up seventeen barricades on the campus, manufactured pillboxes and firebombs, rakenover the University radio station and print- ing press, and set up the "Diliman Commune." I insisted then that the students,supported by the community, had merely reacted to a threatened police and military take-over of the University.
I said that their actions were expressive of their resolve to defend the freedom of the University. We defied the decision of the cabinet to forcibly enter the campus and we asked Mayor Amoranto of Quezon City-c-whc fortunately agreed-to keep his police force outside the gates. Our policy of moderation was com- plctely vindicated: we saved lives, prevented the destruction of the University, and successfully defended its traditional freedoms and immunities.
Some of the older alumni find fault with what they consider to be our policy of "permissiveness"; they are scandaliz~d by the grafirri on the walls of our buildings; they demand.a~ Iro~ hand . dealing with student activists. "There was acnvism In our
In ik his."
time," they recall with nostalgia. "But it was nor II e trus , Of course, it was not like this. and the r~ason is simple:
today's generation is not like ours o~ even like the one im- mediately preceding it. Its problems, mreresrs and concerns are
larger in scope and its commitment to them is far more intense.
It would be a serious mistake to compare this generation with ours, and necessarily to find the former wanting.
"
Our most difficult problem has been this: how to permit sufficient scope for student activism (which our society badly needs, being virtually the only "opposition' in the country (0.
day), while ensuring the continuity of the academic life of the University. To insisr that students who wane to boycott classes and organize rallies and demonstrations are free to do so, but that they should leave alone those who wish to attend classes, is to describe "a consummation devoutly to be wished." Jn real life, however, things do nor alwayswork Out that way, It is nor always possible codraw the line between simple belief in an idea and the acr of advocacy and agitation.
We face the dilemma of trying to keep the flame of knowl- edge, learning and scholarship burning in the very halls of an academe which has become the mosr articulate critic of society and the nation's principal agent of change. Expressive of this dilemma is the statement I have made more than once, namely, that while I am proud of the U.P.'s traditions of academic ex- cellence, which we must maintain, I would feel embarrassed to see this University become an ivory tower amid a society in turmoil, indifferent to the problems that torment the nation.
This dilemma, stared in personal terms, amounts to rhis : while student activism often makes me uncomfortable, the absence of it would make me feel uneasy.
Running a great university like the U.P. is an uncertain and even risky business, as exciting as it is challenging. It can only be played by ear.
Challenge is the operative word here. Because the challengers are young, intelligent and sensitive, one cannot afford co fe~1 old or chink old. To do so would be to risk being overwhelmed or cast aside. One must try to keep one step at least ahead of them.
This may explain why people whom I meet for the first time after a long while often remark that I look youthful and vi.
gorous, although, truth to tell,I am sixty-oneand my daily jogging schedule is getting to be a strenuous chore. Srudenr activism
helps to keep me in trim.
You will gather from this that while 1may not be ecstatically happy with the work I am doing, I do feel gratified and ful-
filled. I have a feeling of being completely used. all my faculties engaged, all eightcylinders of the mind and body (if I have that many) humming and whining, sometimes roaring. This is quite an achievement at my time of life; indeed" I don't recall '3
similar feeling since I got my first job as 'anewspaperman forty years ago. This is to say that during all the. twenty-three years 1 spent in the foreign service, including fifteen }-e~rs in't~~
United Nations, I never really felt as fully challenged and e~·
gaged as I db nOW.
··s
48 ur.
GAZETTEVOL. III, No. 4
I have often been asked if I don't miss the diplomatic life.
It's true that I used to missthe United Nations, where Lre- presented our country in various capacities for twenty years.
But chat was in the early days when life itt"Diliman seemed such a lonely exile from the centers of power where things hap- pened or were decided. Now, however, I have a feeling that jf I should go away from here and rerum to the foreign service, it would feel like going into exile. So far as I am concerned, this, now, is where the action is. I remember saying this (0 my friend former Ambassador J.V. Cruz last year, when I saw him in Bonn. He had been our ambassador there only a few months, and I noticed that he was nor entirely content. I asked him if he did not miss Manila, "where the action is." He admitted he did, adding that Bonn, is really an "overgrown village." Three months later he came home and announced that he was quieting the embassy in Bonn to come home and run for Vice-Mayor of Ma- nila. When asked why, he said, virtually quoting me: "Manila is _where the action is,"
Three weeks ago I flew to Paris to attend a UNESCO-sponsrm:J meeting of a group of experts called ro consider the establishment of a United Nations University. That was my first Unired Nations meeting since leaving New York in 1969. I found it somewhat of a bore. Bycomparison with the work on the campus, the work of a small-power diplomat is a kind of choreographed ballet. It isremore,tangential, peripheral, and often unreal. On the campus, one deals. with the here and now. and because one works with the young, o~e doeals also with the future.
I completed three years of my six-year term as U.P. President on January 23rd this year. Ir is hard to believe that I have been here that long, When I am asked what I consider to be my principal achievement, I say without hesitation', the simple fact of -'having" survived. 'Confronted during my first week in office with a massive student strike (directed not against me bur against conditions for which I bore no responsibility) and a list of 77 demands, I have since gone through dozens of strikes, boycotts and demonstrations (not only of 'students bur faculty members and administrative employees) plus a faculty-student march to Mala- cafiang, which I myself led; two periods of barricades, of which the second lastednine days; and two cases involving deans in the Supreme Court, of which the second is still pending.
Yet, while it does fed great merely to have survived, I realize, of course, thar survival is not good enough. It is nor good enough cobe' able to say that we have kept the University going through these turbulent three years. As I 'told the members of my staff after theNew Year, we must now get the University moving for- ward and upward, in new directions demanded by our respon- sibilities to the national society.
The fa'ct is rhar the U.P. is' not' just one more university in the land, not just the best university we have, serving as the apex of our educational system; ir is, truly, a republic within the Republic, setting standards of academic excellence, serving as the training ground of national leadership, undertaking 71 per- cent of' all scientific research done in the country. and selected as the implementing agency for the Philippine Government in about half of all foreign and United Nations development proj- ects
in
our country. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the University as a vital tool of social change and economic develop-ment;'
we' need to face, the following urgent problems and take the.~eceisary,. ?eCisio~s:.-I-. The governance of- the. UniverJitf.-\Yfe .must .stabilize .at some point. the mcvemene rewards denrocrariaarion .in. the Uni- versity. Already, in this domain, we have gone ta"rthcr' than any.
other university in this country, in Asia or in the United States, and a reaction is beginning to set in. \\7hile the measures al- ready taken are probably irreversible, we must carefully study each new proposal for further democratization, lest the University become inoperable as an academic institution devoted to excel- lence in teaching, research and community service.
2. The achievement of a IProper balance between the graduate and undergraduate programs of the Unit!ersit)'.-A few days ago, a proposal to limit the D.P.to graduate studies only was barely rejected in the Constitutional Convention. \Vhile we should wei.
come the enrichment and expansion of our graduate programs, we should not go so far as to abandon the undergraduate field altogether. Our own undergraduates constitute the best mareriars for our graduate programs. Moreover, it is in the undergraduate classrooms where the most effective teaching methods. materials and equipment are reseed and developed, and where the great teach- ers are to be found. The V.P. is now and will continue to be outstanding in research; we must take care that it does not cease to be a great teaching institution.
3. The setting tiP of new progrems, institutes, centers, etc.- I used to worry somewhat over the continuing expansion of uni- versity activities in response to the pressure to set up new units.
I thought we oughtnor to spread ourselves too thin. I recognized, of course, that this pressure arose from rhedesire to shield those units from political influence by placing them under the constitu- tionally guaranteed umbrella of the V.P. Today, I feel rather more assured about this matter. In our times, community service has assumed parity with reaching and research as a raison d'etre of the university. The V.P. cannot dissociate itself from this universal tendency. Accordingly, three new units have been established during my administration: the Agrarian Reform Institute, the Comprehensive Community Health Program, and the Center for International Studies.
The guiding principle should be relevance-but relevance in its deepest and broadest significance. recognizing that while popu- lation control. environmental planning, and agrarian reform are indeed relevant. so are Plato and Karl Marx, Dance and Shake- speare. the Song of Songs and the Sermon on the Mount.
4. The U.P.as the core or apex of the Slate University System, --Should the U.P. expand or contract its presence around the country? Should it open new regional branches in response to the requests we have received, or should we phase our the ones we now have and come home to Diliman, Manila and Los Banos?
An expanded State University System, with the U.P. at the apex and three regional universities, one each in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, has been proposed by the Presidential Commission to Survey- Philippine Education. A V.P. limited to Diliman, Manila and Los Hanas has many things to recommend it, not the least of these being the fact that we would be able to hold it down to manageable proportions, and maximize the usc of avail- able resources in order to achieve undiluted excellence. But, on the other hand, how would we justify maintaining a small elitist university in a society where populism and egalitarianism are becoming the dominant drives of national development?
5. The urgent need for more stable and substantial [inanciai support.-The ideal arrangement would be to set up a Special Fund for the VP that would be fed directly by a special tax or taxes, like 'thc'Scienc~ Tax for the National Science Develop- ment Board. This would spare us from the annual ritual of going to Congress. hat" in hand, begging for funds. 'We need to raise salaries and wages, construct new academic facilities, andireplace obsolescent utilities. Eventually, our