A lawyer who does his profession proud

This refers to Cielito Habito’s Feb. 3 column (“The trouble with lawyers,” Opinion) where he asked: “Are lawyers truly that greedy?”

“Lawyer jokes” abound, and, unfortunately, some of them ring true. What a terrible reputation to have after all the horrendous trouble entailed in passing the bar.

Thankfully, there are also many lawyers who give honor to their chosen profession. I know of one who, after passing the bar, worked for one of the most prestigious law firms at the time and, later, established his own so he could devote more time to those who really needed help. He went on to become a member of the Constitutional Convention and then representative of his beloved Quezon province for eight years. He received the distinction of being an outstanding congressman 24 times, served as chair of the Philippine Coconut Authority, and then was appointed by President Ramos to the Cabinet as secretary on the peace process.

Many times he would not be home for Christmas, his children’s graduations and other family milestones because he would be out there serving poor and powerless clients, most of whom were farmers, fisherfolk, human rights victims, employees and workers. They included:

454 Whitecliff farmers in Bondoc Peninsula who were being unjustly eased out of their 2,020-hectare landholdings which they have labored on for many years;

220 Quezon human rights victims during the Marcos years, who were eventually awarded $1,000 each by a US court;

Thousands of fisherfolk whose fishing grounds in Lamon Bay had been abused by operators;

1,600 medical examinees whose 1967 board exams were unjustly cancelled on grounds of unverified cheating in nine out of 60 class-rooms used by the examinees at the Far Eastern University. President Ferdinand Marcos reconsidered his earlier decision and 1,051 of them became doctors that year.

Public and private employees now enjoying the benefits of an annual 13th-month pay.

Through all these battles, this lawyer never lost focus of the reason he wanted to become a public defender. To this day, at 87 years of age, he is still out there working with NGOs pushing for environmental change, for the replication of livelihood projects in other provinces; most of all, for the release of the notorious P75-billion coconut levy fund to finally better the lives of the marginalized coconut farmers who make up a fourth of the Filipino people.

As far as I can remember, he never wore a watch, never drove a car, still quotes Donne, Longfellow and Blake when the mood strikes, picks up wildflowers outside our home whenever he takes his regular walks. Just this afternoon, he took a look at all the casinos springing up at Macapagal Avenue and he said, “We are a poor country behaving as though we were rich.” Materialistic he is not.

So to answer former Cabinet secretary Habito’s question, “Are lawyers greedy?” I say: When I think of my dad, lawyer Oscar “Oca” F. Santos from Alabat, Quezon, I beg and will always beg to differ with him.

GEMMA SANTOS-DIMACULANGAN, Parañaque City