There
has always been a running joke about lawyers and it claims that honest ones are
an "endangered species in heaven". The same can be said of honest
lawyers here on earth. Yet, despite being "an elusive and endangered
species", honest lawyers DO EXIST, as with the case of Atty. Romeo T.
Capulong.
I
first heard of "Ka Romy", as he was fondly called, during the cases
of the Batasan 5 solons (Reps. Casiño, Ocampo, Maza, Mariano, Viray) who were
put through difficult times by the Arroyo regime back in 2004. I've always had contempt
for bureaucratic geezers with their pretentious formal attires and their
elitist leanings, but I think that this man was neither bureaucratic, nor
pretentious, nor elitist (despite his elderly and formal appearance). And I
admired him as a role model for being so.
In
my point of view, he was a simple man who only wanted to serve. He offered legal
services pro-bono to his less fortunate clients. Nonetheless, I can tell that
he was an excellent man, considering the fact that he became a member of the
UN's International Criminal Court, a senior legal adviser to the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), a founding chairman of the National
Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), and an organizer of the Public Interest Law
Center (PILC).
Coming
from a family of tenant farmers himself, Atty. Capulong handled cases involving
the marginalized sectors with whom he had an affinity for. He stood up for the
rights of the “little people” – peasants, workers, urban poor, human rights
workers, social justice advocates, political prisoners – who have nothing to
defend themselves against the “big bullies” of society. Ka Romy even worked
with the PILC’s young law practitioners who share his solidarity with the “little
people” by offering their pro-bono legal services to the poor and oppressed. He
was most notable for handling the high-profile case of Flor Contemplacion, the
Filipina domestic worker who was executed in Singapore. He also handled the
cases of the Martial Law victims, “comfort women” of World War II, Hacienda
Luisita workers, and the Morong 43 health workers.
His
passing away is definitely a great loss to those who uphold social change, true
justice and peace, and genuine democracy. Even so, his life of service,
integrity and solidarity to the people is already a noble legacy that has set
an example of excellence for the current and coming generations of real defenders
of the people, changers of society, and champions of social justice.
Even
though he is now gone at age 77, his ideals will live on. With this, I raise my
fist in a protester’s fashion to salute the great and late attorney. Indeed, honest
lawyers are an endangered species on earth, with their population diminished by
one. Perhaps Heaven just added Ka Romy to its small quantity of honest lawyers
up there.
