Yesterday, May 21, 2008 marked a day that proves my own personal belief. That belief was playing tug-of-war within me in that I had firm faith an improving police system in Cebu but at the same time there was a lingering feeling that, somehow, it was at the same time deteriorating.
At about 11:3O yesterday morning, a good family friend, mentor and adviser, Atty. Richard William "Dick" Sison was savagely murdered by semi-automatic totting, motorcycle riding cowards at the corner of V. Sotto St. and M.J. Cuenco Ave. in Barangay Tinago, Cebu City.
Ninong Dick, as he was my Godfather at my wedding, was a very upright man. He firmly believed in the strength of law. His accolades in his legal practice, his personal life, his public life was so vast that it would run up and down the yin-yang. He was involve with the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF). He was a loyal Josenian and Carolinian. He was a stable leader with a rank of Major, Philippine Army Reserve. He was a good man, very approachable and very supportive. For all that its worth, I find his murder horrendous!
As a barrister and having survived law school, I have been molded to believe and trust in the law and the justice system. We were all taught that lawyers were learned brothers whom the poor, the uneducated, the helpless could lean on and seek legal aid. As learned brothers, it is our duty to serve and protect not just the legal interest of our clients, but also to give legal advise to those who were in the dark.
As a consequence of such a position, what ever information obtained by lawyers in the course of a lawyer-client relationship was deemed to be privileged, that not even a mandate by the Supreme Court, Congress or the President cannot be made without blatantly violating the pertinent provisions of the Bill of Rights. Such privilege was engrained in each and every one of us that have at very least survive four years of law school to the point that the privilege itself is zealously guarded.
And yet on that fateful morning, two motorcycle riding cowards took the life of a dear family friend, a reputable man, a loving father. What has this country become? Are we reverting back to the old ways where odds could be settled thru duelling? Is this the wild, wild west, where differences could be settled by the bullet? Last time I checked, we had become civilized. Last time I remember, a semi-automatic weapon could not me held without a permit. Is this what we have become? Has law become lawless? To all Cops, WAKE UP AND GET TO WORK!!! We're paying to protect us from these thugs!!!
Some theories have cropped up. One is that this is related to a case against prominent businessmen. Another is that this is from another case involving the police. These are but theories. No one can really tell what this stems from. To all fellow barristers, lawyers, friends, colleagues, let us all pray for the eternal rest.
In the unlikely event the killers are reading this, there's a saying in the vernacular, "Wa'y sukod sa ba's, bai."
Lastly, I say this
Fiat justitia ruat caelum , Let Justice be done though the heavens fall!