For the alumni of Mapa High

Please talk of how you became “a sterling example of what a true-blue Mapan should be” and how we can give back to society, was the request of former congressman Benny Abante Jr., president of the Mapa High School Alumni Association. My full speech before 1,000 alumni gathered at the Metro Tent, Pasig City, on Feb. 23 may be accessed at cjpanganiban.com.

Here’s a short version to fit in this space:

Mostly poor were the Mapa students of my time. We looked at education and hard work as our keys to success. I had to hawk newspapers, peddle cigarettes and shine shoes to support my study. Tired and weary, I promised myself I would one day be president of the Manila Times, the largest-circulated daily then.

After high school the University of the Philippines granted me a scholarship, but my impoverished parents could not afford the then 15-centavo bus fare to the UP campus in Quezon City.

Nearby University of Santo Tomas refused me a scholarship because I failed to answer the last of three questions of an old Dominican priest: First, “How many Gods are there?” Second, “How many persons are there in one God?” And third, the tough question, “Name them,” to which I sheepishly answered, “Susmaryosep (Jesus, Mary and Joseph)!” Yes, I was a religious ignoramus.

So I enrolled at Far Eastern University, which gave me a scholarship without any question. I wanted to be a chemical engineer. But my strict father ordered me to take up law.

Inconsolable was my grief at my inability to enroll at UP and to study chemical engineering. But my life turned at FEU. There I met the brilliant law dean Jovito R. Salonga, who taught me his insights from the three schools he studied in: UP, Harvard and Yale.

After graduating cum laude and placing sixth in the bar exam, I was granted a scholarship at Yale. But, like my UP problem, I did not have transport money. So, I forthwith practiced and taught law, and dabbled in business. I organized Baron Travel Corp., which enabled our five children to travel, and finish their graduate degrees at Harvard, Stanford, University of California, University of Chicago and University of Michigan.

I also intensified my study of my Catholic faith. As a result, I was invited to the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines. Later, I was named by Pope John Paul II as the only Filipino member for the 1996-2001 term of the Pontifical Council for the Laity in the Vatican. In 1991, I became part-time president of the Inquirer.

Supreme Court journey. Like my entry into the law profession, I did not plan my journey to the Supreme Court. On June 17, 1992, then President-elect Fidel V. Ramos offered me to be his secretary of justice. I respectfully declined, saying, “Thank you, Mr. President, but I am not worthy to join your Cabinet. I did not campaign for you during the last elections.”

However, he was insistent: “I know you did not campaign for me. In fact, you did not even vote for me. You voted for Jovy Salonga. But that is all right. I want a nonpartisan Cabinet.” After two weeks, he finally relented: “Ah,  sa  Supreme Court  ka  na  lang.”

A decade later, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo named me the 21st Chief Justice of the Philippines. As a jurist, I espoused my legal philosophy of “Liberty and Prosperity Under the Rule of Law.” I believe justice and jobs, freedom and food, ethics and economics, democracy and development, and liberty and prosperity must always go together; one is useless without the other.
After my retirement in December 2006, I embarked on a new journey as an independent director or adviser of some of the largest firms listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange. I also write a column in the Inquirer.

Giving back. I ask you, my successful co-alumni, to give back to society by sharing your time, talent and treasure. The sharing of time and talent is just as important as the sharing of treasure. No one is so poor he cannot share something, and no one is so rich he does not need anything.

I give back my time and talent by being chair or president of several foundations, like the Manila Cathedral Foundation, Metrobank Foundation and Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity.

The sharing of treasure should really remain anonymous, so I will just mention two items already of public knowledge. To celebrate my 75th birthday two years ago, I gave half of my retirement pay to the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity, and my one-year income as a columnist to the Inquirer Foundation for Newsboys. And today, may I contribute eight subsistence scholarships for poor Mapans.

To conclude, education, hard work and God transformed me from a poor newsboy to being president of the most widely-read newspaper in our country; from an ignorant Catholic to being a member of the highest lay council of the Church in the Vatican; from a frustrated applicant for graduate studies to being father of five wonderful children who each achieved my impossible dream of graduating from a pedigreed US university; from a fumbling shoeshine boy to the boardrooms of the best corporate giants; from an aspiring chemical engineer to a reluctant lawyer; and, finally, to the highest judicial position in our country.

As I contemplate my life and move toward its sunset, I know that God has woven my many pains and gains into a magnificent tapestry showing His mystical presence. Truly, there is one constancy in my life: the presence, care and providence of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him I dedicate all I was, all I am, and all I will ever be.

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