Never give up, never say never

Last Friday, the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity (FLP) awarded 21 legal scholarships at P200,000 each, in partnership with the Tan Yan Kee Foundation; five “Esmel” fellowships for Master of Business Administration students at P450,000 each, in partnership with the Metro Pacific Investments Foundation; and 10 dissertation writing contest winners with prizes totaling P1.325 million, in partnership with the Ayala Corp. The ceremony was keynoted by CJ Alexander G. Gesmundo. Given my space limits, let me shorten my own address during the program (Full speech uploaded in cjpanganiban.com and libpros.com), as follows:

LIFE IS A STRANGE INTERPLAY OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS, of victories and defeats. Amid these zigzags of life, we must keep on trying, keep on fighting. We must never give up; never say “never.” When a door closes, a much larger and better window opens. Let me show how this interplay has happened in my life.

After graduating with honors from high school, I was granted a scholarship at UP. However, I could not enter UP’s door to higher education because my impoverished family could not afford the then measly 15 centavo ride to Diliman, QC.

Thus, I enrolled at nearby FEU where, most fortunately, a large window was opened. There, I met my life-long mentor, law dean Jovito R. Salonga. With the inspiration of another FEU mentor, Dr. Alejandro R. Roces, I became an active student leader, was elected the youngest president of the FEU Central Student Organization, founded and headed the National Union of Students, graduated cum laude and copped the sixth place in the Bar exams. However, though granted a full scholarship including board and lodging at Yale University, I could not enter the door to higher education in the US because the US Embassy refused me a visa due to my student activism.

AFTER I WAS NAMED ASSOCIATE JUSTICE of the Supreme Court, and later, chief justice, I buried myself in work as a virtual hermit, shunning social interaction. I produced over 1,200 fully signed decisions during my over 11 years as a magistrate, while writing one book a year and chairing most of the Supreme Court committees, thereby humbly earning, though unworthy, a unanimous resolution of the Court, naming me the “The Renaissance Jurist of the 21st Century,” and citing me, without my participation and vote, as “the Court’s most prolific writer, bar none.” The resolution lauded my term, again though unworthy, for “demonstrating (my) core judicial philosophy of safeguarding the liberty and nurturing the prosperity of our people, thereby imbedding this philosophy in the nation’s legal lore…”

Five years after my retirement, I was inspired by the musical “Ageless Passion” composed by national artist Ryan Cayabyab, to transform my philosophy from being merely an imbedded “legal lore” into a practical reality, outside the intellectual realm of lawyers into the world of hard knocks and grinding poverty. Initially, I contributed P2 million to FLP’s treasury; thereafter, the many companies and foundations I became a director or adviser of, donated P50 million to enable FLP to purchase its 700 square-meter head office in Makati. Moreover, they gave another 50 million pesos (and counting) to sponsor the continuing educational projects I mentioned earlier.

AND NOW, LET ME TAKE UP BRIEFLY what I call the “ultimate projects” of the FLP. The first is a Center for Liberty and Prosperity in Metro Manila (and later, a much larger one in the new Manila International Airport in Bulacan) where, in partnership with the Supreme Court, an interactive, immersive, and AI-powered Museum for Liberty and Prosperity will be housed.

It will be interactive and immersive in the sense that the visitor will not merely be viewing historical relics but will also be immersing into them via modern technology. As an example, visitors can be transported or immersed inside a virtual Session Hall of the Supreme Court where they can see and hear oral arguments, ask oral questions, and give comments. It will be AI-powered in the sense that visitors can speak with robots mimicking justices that have been filled with info about their decisions, speeches, life career, etc.

The second ultimate project is a multibillion-peso “Prosperity Fund” to assist in nurturing, growing. managing, and maturing micro, small, and medium enterprises or MSMEs. It will be nonprofit, but financially viable and sustainable. It will help unleash the entrepreneurial ingenuity of our people as the key to eliminating extreme poverty.

To put our money where our mouth is, I donated to FLP last year a major asset of my family—a residential lot in Paseo de Magallanes in Makati, worth over P100 million to be liquified at the appropriate time. The proceeds will be used to seed the two ultimate projects. FLP dedicates the first project to the talented and the second to the poor.

By fulfilling our vow to help the poor help themselves through viable and sustainable private enterprises, we do not merely perform a civic duty but more so, we obey our Lord’s command, “Whatever you do for the least of my brethren, you do unto me.” (Matthew 25:40)

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