MABUHAY:
The IBP national officers and the UP Sigma Rho Fraternity, which has been controlling the IBP National Board since the 1970s, had planned my defeat during the election of the 2007-09 officers of the IBP Pasay Paranaque Las Pinas Muntinlupa (PPM) Chapter, of which I was the 2005-07 chapter vice president.
The reason was my independent stand and past critiques of past IBP policies, which I felt, were not in accord with the aims and goals of a good Bar association.
My opponents wanted to silence dissent and criticism within the IBP. The elected chapter president was a young UP Sigma Rhoan who has no IBP and local Bar leadership experience and no track record of services to the Bar and the Law Academe. He won by a slim margin of 14 votes only.
Nonetheless, I will continue my campaign for the reform of the IBP, the legal profession, and the Justice system, as a private lawyer. I will remain to serve the Las Pinas City Bar Association, which I founded in 2001, and the Justice System of Las Pinas City (and other parts of country, where invited).
Thank you for your kind and invaluable support and assistance to me last election.
May your day be blessed, happy and liberated.
Atty. MANUEL J. LASERNA JR.
