The bench and bar in news : Dean Jorge Bocobo

Title

Language

English

Source

The Lawyers Journal XIV (5) May 31, 1949

Year

1949

Subject

Lawyers--Philippines

University of the Philippines--Presidents

Philippines--Politics and government

Bocobo, Jorge, 1886-1965

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

THE BENCH AND BAR IN NEWS DEAN JORGE BOCOBO Most men must w:iit until they arc dead to get the proper r~ cognitio11 of their greatness or the just reward of their labors. In the Philippines there are those who may not even get :i fair appraiSJI of their work :ind their death will only hasten t he obliteration of the little impression they would c:iuse upon their generation. Either of these may be the fare of Dean Jorge Bocobo, monlist, scholar, publicist, thinker, educator. For as :m outstanding moral crusader, his preachings have been like the "small voice of one crying in the wilderness" made feeble by the indifference of his time and unacceptable because of his principles that run counter• to the standards of his gcner:i.tion. But the saving grace has been that he has always <onfincd himself within the realms of reason refusing as he does to complicate his views through sophistry. For that matter, whenever he denounces a wrong or fights an injustice, he is brutally frank and uncompromising. As a thinker, ironically, Dean Bocobo is level-headed to the extent that he is practical. T his speaks welt of the influence of his American education thal in later years afforded him the proper perspective in the monumental task of codifying Philippine laws and in the drafting of the social security measures now pending in Congress. At the age of 62, Dem llocobo can look back to the three decades of his professorial career during which period he had made more lawyers than most of the living law professors in the Philippines. And jusd y he can look back with pride and count among his students in those eatly years of his teaching at the College of Law, University of rhe Philippines, the late President Manuel Roxas, President Elpidio Quirino, Dr. J ose P. Laurel, Justices Cesar Bcngzon, Marccliano Montemayor and Alcx;rnder Reyes of the Supreme Court and Secretary of Justice Sabino Padilla. As educator, he was for five years President of the University of the Philippines followed by two years in the cabinet of t he late President Quezon a.s Secretary of Public Instruction. During those years he had introduced numerous reforms in the field of education in which he laid emphasis to the preservation of the high culture and virtues of the Filipinos - "that refined test for art and the broadening kr.owledge of the classics." As the head of the State university he always dreamed of inculcating a "generous estimate of loveliness and the sublime meaning of life which comes of a soundly developed artistic taste and a communion with writers c,f the classics." Dr. Bocobo is a prolific writer and a forcefu l speaker. His articles have appeared in big metropolitan newspapers and magazines (Co11tin11etl 011 pagr 286) , .. JUDGE CEFERINO DE LOS SANTOS T he evolution of penal laws of all civilized peoples is based on the philosophy that penalties arc meted out by the courts of justice, first, as punishment for crimes and, seconcl, as indirect instruments of reform for the benefit of society. In both cases society is protected with the imposition of penalties commensurate to t he crime committed. This is rhe contention of Judge Cefcrino de los Santos, presiding judge of the third br:mch, Court of First Instance of R.iza[ and !oca.ud in Quezon City, in defending the imposition of C3pital punishment for the crime of murder wirh all the aggravating circumstances proven in open court. "Much as I am averse to the imposition of death penalty," Judge De los Santos expostubtes in answer to a question propounded by the LA WYERS JOURNAL, "law is law :md its supremacy must be respected." The honorable judge of Rizal recalls how in a recent attempt in Great Britain to suspend for five ye:irs the application of capital punishment the Primate of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, opposed the move wl1ich if ~uccessfu l would mean a funher rise in crime in the empire, in the opinion of the head of the English church. It must be recalled that H on. Delos Santos w:i.s the first judge afttr liberation to promulgate a verdict of de:lth penalty which he imposed upon two murderers in Ilocos Sur in a C<!Se that reverberated throughout the country. And for a punishment to serve as a deterrent to crime, it must be severe enough to scare even the hardened crimin:ils, he says. On the other hand, Judge De los Sar!tos :i.lso holds that the state should implemem its genera.I progr:im of education with the tempering effects of social just.ice through extensive so.cial services to m<!ke up for the inequalities in opportunities which have something to do with the degree of criminology obtaining in any community. J udge De los Santos was a prominent member of the House of Representatives before his appointment to the judiciary on August 5, 1946. H e represented the fourth district of lloilo having been elected to the office in November 194 1. During the occupation, the judge joined the civil government of the resistance movement as judge of first instance by virtue of a radiogram advice from Washington by the late President Manuel L. Quezon. He continued in his post up to March 18, 1945, when the liberation forces landed in Iloilo. · An interesting incident occurred during Judge De los Santos' incumbency as judge of first instance in Panay. Sometime in 1944 (Co11/i1111ed 011 page 286) May 31, 1949 The Bench and Bar DEAN BOCOBO. (Cr111li1111('(/ fm111 J1ugr U·I ) as his views on current political topics and leg:il subjects h:ive been sought by editors and publishers. His longer works consist of books :rnd treatises on civil law; :ilso "Streams of Life" (a series of ess:i.ys on moral and social copies), "The Radiant Symbol" (a book of phys :ind short stories) and " Freedom and Dignity" (a book on the Philippine independence movement). At present he is Chairman of the Code Commission. He is the principal author of the proposed Civil Code, which is now being discussed in rhe Philippine Congress. The draft of the Civil Code proposes many significant ch:i.nges in the present Code, which is the Spanish Civil Code of 1889. Amo11 g the reforms recommended arc: (l) the liberalization of women's rights, (2) the implementation of social justice, ( 3) the consolidation of the fa. mil}', (4) the elevation of Filipino customs to the category of bw, ( 5) supremacy of justice and equity over strict legalism, ( 6) strengthening of democracy, and (7) exaltation of human personality. . . A disringuishcd member of die leg:il profession and of the Philippine bar, Jorge Bocobo w:is born 62 yezrs ago in the town of Gerona, province of Tarbc. He was educ;tted in the private and public schools of the town during the Sp:i.•1ish regime. When the Americans arrived, he continued his educ:ltion under the new American teachers. In 1903 he was one of the first group of Filipino pcnsionados sent by the Philippine government to the United Sures to contimie their studies. . Atty. Bocobo graduated from the law school of Indiana Univer~ity. Upon his return to the Philippines he was appointed a bw clerk in the Executive Bureau of the insular government until 191 l. He was admitted to the Philippine bar in 1913, although he actually began to teach in the College of Law of the University of the Philippines two years before. He rcm:lined as professor of civil law until he became President of the University of the Philippines. That was after he h:ld served 17 years as dean of the College of Law. Or. Bocobo is an hononry member of the Spanish Academy· of Legislation and Jurisprudence, and holds the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws· from the Univenity of Southern California. - 1.T.R. JUDGE DE LOS SANTOS.. (Co11ti1111ed from J1~1ge 281 ) he sentenced a certain Talabon for a term for a crime of murder. But because of the continuous activities of the enemy and of the guerrilla forces the judge could not promulgate a formal written decision. "I was unable ro comply with my duty as judge then," says Hon. De los Santos in retrospect, " because of the fighting in lloilo when the guerrillas su r~ounded the city for over a month up to the time of the arrival of the Americans. On the landing of Gen. MacArthur's forces, I was immediately ordered by the PCAU to vacate my office and to surrender :ill court records to the reinstated judges. "Ta!abon, who was all the time under custody, filed a writ of habeas corpus against the provincial warden. In a Supreme Court decision penned by Justice Gregorio Perfecto, I was criticized for not promulgating a written verdict. However, I refrained from answering the justice's cutting remarks, which I could have done so, but, instead, I kept silent knowing full well that the records and minutes of the controvetsial case will bear me out in dignity and contained self-respect." Teaching law at the same ti~e at a loc:ll university, Judge De los Santos still finds time reading literary and legal classics for which reason he has a broad cultur1l background. A forceful speaker and entertaining conversationalist, he has quite a dominatmg personJ!ity which an eminent psychologist ascribes to intellectual maturity. He believes that lawyers would be more proficient should they hold at least an A.B. degree before proceeding to a law school. He also advises the reading of legal publications like the LA WYERS JOURNAL which, he sJys, is useful to both judges and law practitioners. Reading books and publications of this kind with articles written by authorities, besides decisions and public laws that are regular features in every issue, gives a lawyer or judge the profundity essential to the career of law, philosophizes the Quezon City judge. Born in the prosperous town of Potot;tn, lloilo, on August 26, 1892, Judge De los Santos went to grade school in the Instituto de Molo and later proceeded to the Iloilo Provincial High School where he finished his secondary education. Proceeding to Manila thereafter, he enrolled in the Philippine Law School from where he obtained his LLB. in 1924. In the same year he was :ldmitted to the Philippine Bar following which he practised law for 21 years. Hon. De los S:lntos believes that the administration of justice in the Philippines today may be made more expeditious should judges of rhe court of fi rst instance be given lawyers as secretaries who can help them in their work, particularly in researching, thus enabling the judge to dispose of cases faster.-1.T.R. DIUECTOR AGRAVA . . (Co11ti1111cJ from page 285) he rubbed shoulders with present-day personalities of the bench like Justices Alejo Labrador, Jose Ml. Paredes and Dionisio de Leon of the Court of Appeals, J udge Ramon San Jose of the Manila Court of First Instance, Solicitor General Felix A. Bautista and City Fiscal Eugenio Angeles. Having taken the three-year law course for non-working students, he was required in accordance with the then prevailing practice, to undergo a year of apprenticeship before being permitted to take the bu examinations (he took it at the law offices of former Justice Mariano H. de Joya and WDC Commissioner Francisco Delgado). In August, 19 19, he hurdled the last roadblock to his being a full-fledged lawyer. Adding another leaf to his academic laurels is a Master of Arts in Economics degree which he obtained from the graduate school of Yale University in J une, 1927. Director Agrava has a petulant distaste for lobbying in any w:i.y or purpose. He sincerely believes thlt by asking someone to pull the strings for his advancement or in order to obtain better attention and increased appropriations for his office, would eventually hlmstrung the functions of his organization, losing its independence in the bargain, as it pays obeisance to the whim of its patron. Stressing this aversion, he elaborates: "My point in refraining from lobbying is to feel free in pursuing my work like a bird out of a cage and, mind you, with my conscience clean, I ~Jeep well at night." One common plaint of the Pltent Office is the glaring lack of qualified hands to perform its mulrifarious activities. It is a matter of common knowledge that the organiz:ition is sorely undermanned. As of this writing, ot.lt of the 15 2 pending patent applications, only 4 patents have been issued bccau~e there are but three men-the director and two engineers-who h:rndle the intricate job. Another headache of the office are 1,000 new trademark applications together with more than 1,500 p;!titions for the issuance of new certificate under t he post liberation trademark law which are to be processed and acted upon by a staff of five men. A lawyer and an assistant handles applications for copyrights. The daily grind has not made Director Agrava an cager beaver. He spontaneously, without offending, disengages himself from the mechanics of talking shop and deal on a variety of subjects in a lighter vein. - T his elasticity in his nature has not made a mental robot out of the m:ln. His co-workers state that he can more than hold his own on any controversial ground of culiure. This aspect 286 THE LA WYERS JOURNAL May 31, 1949

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