In connection with the pending bar reform-related matter in the Philippine Supreme Court which I initiated in 2006, docketed as Bar Matter No. 1696 and entitled “In re: :Letter of Atty. Manuel J. Laserna Jr., re: Campaign to Introduce Certain Amendments to Rule 139-A”, I am glad to report to members of the Philippine Bar that at long last the national board of governors of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) has submitted a status report, by way of a Compliance (dated November 18, 2009), to the Supreme Court, stating, among other things, as follows:
1. In a board meeting held on September 11, 2009, it was agreed that amendments to the IBP By-Laws be seriously studied and a task force be created to review the By-Laws.
2. In the said meeting the board approved Resolution No. XIX-2009-35 creating a task force to review the IBP By-Laws and assigned Secretary Tomas Prado and Director Rosario Setias-Reyes to the task force.
3. In a meeting held on October 29, 2009 the board:
a. authorized the deputy general counsel to come up with a matrix of the proposed amendments to Rule 13-A of the Rules of Court (re: IBP matters) and the IBP B y-Laws;
b. noted that a task force had been previously created by the board to study the Laserna letter-petition containing his proposed IBP reforms;
c. noted the order of the Court requiring the IBP to submit its comment on the proposed Laserna IBP reforms;
d. agreed to prioritize its action on the Laserna reforms (without prejudice to a more comprehensive review of the IBP By-Laws in the near future);
e. constituted a committee to review the urgent Laserna reforms to be jointly chaired by Gov. A. Tolentino Jr. and Gov. J. Cabrera with the following as members, i.e., Dir. R. Setias-Reyes, Dep. Gen. Counsel R; Urbiztondo, and Sec. T. Prado, without prejudice to inviting the chapter presidents to be affected by the proposed Laserna reforms as resource persons; and
f. gave the committee 90 days to finish its review of the By-Laws.
The Compliance was signed by IBP General Counsel P. Agabin (former law dean of the University of the Philippines college of law) and IBP Deputy General Counsel R. Urbiztondo, who are both known as senior lawyers, law professors and law philosophers filled with wisdom.
The IBP By-Laws and Rule 139-A of the Rules of Court must be soonest amended or revised to reflect the wise and valid reforms that I have proposed in my aforementioned letter-petition which has been pending with the Court since 2006 in order to make the IBP truly responsive to the needs of the Philippine Bar and the society in general and in order to make the IBP a genuine advocate and pillar of the rule of law and justice in the country.
The IBP board of governors should be relentless in recommending to the Court all the necessary progressive reforms now and in the future not only because the Court has ordered it to do so but more importantly because its members have been elected by the Filipino lawyers, acting through their local IBP chapter officials/delegates, precisely to serve the needs of the Philippine Bar and to make a difference in the lives of the oppressed, hopeless, exploited and ignorant citizens of the Philippines.
I shall continue to monitor this bar matter that I have commenced in the Supreme Court three years ago until the IBP by-laws, structures and operations shall have been genuinely reformed and improved (and, better yet, insulated from internal partisan [destructive] politics) for the sake of the Philippine Bar in particular and the Philippine society in general.
This bar matter is one of my burning personal advocacies as a Filipino lawyer, local Bar leader, and former law professor who has the higher non-partisan interest of the Philippine Bar, the rule of law, and the administration of justice deep in his heart, without expecting anything in return.
