Acceptance Speech on behalf of all Scholars for the Legal Scholarship Program at the FLP Awards Ceremony held at the Manila Polo Club on August 29, 2025.
[Greetings]
On behalf of my fellow scholars, I would like to express our utmost gratitude for the generosity and support from the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity and the Tan Yan Kee Foundation. Beyond the financial assistance, the FLP scholarship gifts us a community. It is a tremendous task to gather some of the best and the brightest law students of the country. It is an honor and privilege to be here.
It is also an honor, or perhaps more accurately, a mystery, that I was chosen to give this acceptance speech. Why was it me? I am unsure what this recent law graduate who is still grasping with the fact that the bar exam is just over a week away can credibly say to a room filled with such accomplished and intelligent people. But let me try.
Read plainly, CJ Panganiban’s Philosophy of “Liberty and Prosperity under the Rule of Law” literally places the Rule of Law above the Liberty and Prosperity. In his 2007 Keynote Address entitled Visionary Leadership by Example, CJ Panganiban explained that “[t]he safeguarding of liberty and the nurturance of prosperity must always be planned, worked on and carried out in accordance with, and within the limitations contained in pre-agreed rules and procedures.”1 Thus, Liberty and Prosperity can—or at least should—only be realized under the Rule of Law. Not Rule by Law. Not just Rules of Law. And most definitely, not Rule of Lawyers.
The Rule of Law does not promise to be comfortable. The Rule of Law begins with the humility of those in power recognizing and submitting to its power. It should make the wrists of everyone, but most especially those who can make law, enforce law, or interpret law, a little bit sore from the tightness of its restraint. If not, the law does not rule them. And thus, it is not the law that rules us.
Finally, the Rule of Law survives on clarity and consistency. It gets slaughtered by those who, in the guise of a legal argument, obfuscate the obvious and confuse the clear. It disappears when the application of the law is made to depend on the person, period, or place.
I was not our UP Law Class Valedictorian, so please allow me to address my fellow scholars by borrowing words from our actual valedictorian—Isay Mirasol, who is also an
FLP scholar and is here with us today. Isay once wrote about her pride in being able to deliver her speech in Filipino. Based on her count this was the first for a UP Law Valedictorian in at least 9 years. In her speech, she made a simple call: “sikapin natin maging mabubuting abogado.”
The language matters. You see, the soul of this statement is scrubbed out when translated to English. Google Translate would suggest the line: “[l]et’s try to be good lawyers.” It equates “mabuti” with “good.” But when I hear “good,” I think of the times it was used by my coaches or professors to describe moot, debate, or academic skill or aptitude. In contrast, Isay pointed out that from “mabuti” also springs service and solidarity. Put otherwise, for us Filipinos, unlike to be “good,” to be “mabuti” does not just require excellence, it also demands character. The first condition is already fulfilled by this room that overflows with overachievers. The second condition of charity and community is now the challenge.
Again to echo Isay, “sikapin natin maging mabubuting abogado.” Thank you and good evening!