Profiles of members of the bench and bar: presiding Justice Jose P. Bengzon

Title

Language

English

Source

The Lawyers Journal XXVII (9) September 30, 1962

Year

1962

Subject

Judges -- Selection and appointment

Philippines -- Court of Appeals

Bengzon, Jose P.

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

PROFILES OF MEMBERS OF THE BENCH A~AR JOSE P. BENGZON Presiding Justice, Court of A7Jpcafs On June 18, 1962, the Hon. IJose P. Bengzon took his oath of ' office as Presiding J ustice of the Court of Appeals. At the bnre of the appointment is a solid foundation of distinguished public service and a brilliant record in the private practic<' of Jaw. Both records compass a long period of rapidly changing g'l)Vernrnents, changes in constitutional and statutory laws, new and <:!Xpandcd theories and practice in ~conomics and business, new concepts of education, and developi1 1g awareness of hum:m values and the economic and social relations of man with man. In tile era of rapid change, only men of fresh outlook, inquiring intelligence, and sensitive' understanding of human values can remain in leadership. Such a man and leader is Presiding .lustiec Jose P. Bcngzon of the Court of Appeals. The reeord of public and private service of Justice Bengzon is impressive by any standard of measurement, namely; practising attorney in Lingayen, Pangasinan ; Municipal Councilor of Lingayen; Corporate Lawyer, Pangasinan Transportation Co.; Assistant Fiscal of Pangasinan; Corporate legal cou11scl of several corporations in l\f'anila; Elected Congressman, First District of Pangasinan; City Fiscal of Manila; Under.secretary of Justice and concurrently Chief of the I mmig:ration Bureau, Chairman of the Board of Pardons and Parole, 1\lcmber of the Integrity Board, Chairman of the Deportation Board, President and Chairman of the Board of the Manila Gas Corporation; Secretary of J ustice; resumed practice of law in Manila; professor of law in the Fran· cisco College, becoming Dean of the College of Law and acting vice-president of the Francisco College; and Chief of Mission with rank of Minister, Philippine Reparations Mission, Tokyo. Japan, from which last position he was appointed Presiding J ustice of the Court of Appeals by President Diosdado Macapagal. Part of his carreer is in the past, but Just!.:<: Bengzon does not belong to nor is he tied to the past; he does not even remember nor care for the inclusive dates of his career. The country gains to have leaders like him who look forward. Like the champion athlete that he was in college day'l, Justice Bengzon bubbles with energy, his inquiring mind dissatisfied and always looking for ways of improving the administration of justice, - by increased dficiency of the staff, punctuality, devotion to duty, faster movement of judicial recor ds, and adoptic·n M proven business methods. "Our people;" Justice Bcngzon sui<l, ·'J1ave: always been d<'manding fast administration of justice. I have devoted time studying the causes of such <lelays. One of th1; causes is the seemin~ lack of earnestness on the part of court stenographers to trnnscribe as soon as possible the notes taken by them during the tl"ial below. We have cases in the Court of Appeals 110w which have been pending fo1· about five years due to the tardiness of trial court stenographers in transcribing their stenographic notes. .\s of late, Justices of this Court have ordered the impasilion of severe rC'medial measures other than fine, in order to oblige the stenographers to transcribe their notes, and a great deal of action on the part of stenographers has been whipped up by reason t hereof. Some of the stenographers are trnnsaibing their notes right in the Court of Appeals, others right in the Dcpartmen~ of Ju.<:t ice. The number of decisions promulgated by the Court ha<; increased appreciably." The Presiding Justice has brought in business methods into the Court of Appeals. He requests but expects comp\ia11ce by the staff to observe efficiency, punctuality, devotion to duty and :ibcvc all honesty and integrity. Quietly, a circular has beer. 1mssrd around that the Presiding ,Justice will e<•nsider punctu11ity :rnd devotion to duty in the assessment of mel"its of all employee5 fol" promotion in rank or salary in next year's budget. The tardiness report given by the Clerk of Court upon his assumption of office showed nn average of 2.2 hours a month for each employee. St1ccecding reports showed the record to have been eonsideralJly :owered to LG hours average, or an improvement on the maltl'r Qf punctuality by about 28'/o. The circular :s sui·e to be copied by other offices. The Presiding Justice has also brought in another innovalio11, which he began in the Reparations Mission in Tokyo, that at the beginning of the week on Monday and a t the end of the weC'k on Saturday, the staff of the Court of Appeals are r equested to attend Philippine Flag ceremonies and the singing of the National Anthem. A jurist is called upon to explain and interpret the law, and to maintain the majesty of the Jaw and th(· dignity of th<' cou\·t. The Presiding Justice has delved deep into the J udiciary Ad, whieh gave the Court of Appeals a seemingly less jurisdiction in ca1>it:\/ crimes t han the courts of first instance. "In the course of the performance of my office,'' Ju.c:liec Bengzon said, "I have been impressed uwrc vividly of the fact that, whereas the Court of F irst Insta11ce can impose death penalty and reclw~ion perpetua in appropriate cases, the Court of Appeals, according to the law creating the same can merely sort of recommend to the Supreme Court the imposition of su~h penalt.y, and certify the case to the Supreme Court for final determination, as if the case had been brought before it on ap1 >eal. So that, although a Court of F irst Instance judgment impo5ing dcMth penalty is automatically elevilted to the Supreme Court, its judgment imposing reclusio1t perpetua cnn become final and cxecutory; whereas, this Court has no power to impose even the penalty of reclusion perp.t1w. To some this would appear incongnwus considering that the Court of Appeals is of higher category than Courts of F irst Instance. However, one lrns to consider that the latter takes cognizance of the cas~ in the ~xercisc of it;; original jurisdiction while the latter, in the performance of its aJ)l)eJlale jurisdiction; and by Constitutional mandate, the Su1>rcme Court cannot be deprived of its jurisdiction to n::view all criminal cases in which the penalty imposed is death or life imprisonm1.:nt. Anyway, this could b(} a good food for thought for students of law, spc.cially for the authorities concerned, as lo '.vhethet there is wisdom in making any change." Page 288 LA WYERS JOURNAL September 30, 19GZ

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288

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