Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts

Vol. V,    No. 13      May 8- 14, 2005      Quezon City, Philippines

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High Court Bans Lawyer of the Poor Indefinitely

A 74-year-old-lawyer has been championing the poor’s cause in their conflict with landlords and powers-that-be. For questioning the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of San Miguel Corporation, he was banned from law practice by the high tribunal indefinitely.

By Karl G. Ombion
Bulatlat

BACOLOD CITY – Lawyer Francisco Cruz, 74, married, a native of Morong town, Bataan (47 kms north of Manila), was due to retire in a year. But instead of getting all the honors and benefits he deserves for defending the poor and fighting alleged irregularities in high court in all his life as a lawyer, he was ordered by the Supreme Court (SC) under “indefinite suspension.” And all because he accused the SC justices of corruption.

The old but still feisty lawyer received a nine-page resolution of the SC last April 21. The en bank resolution, signed only by the Clerk of Court Luzviminda Puno, stated that Cruz “had been found guilty of both direct contempt of court and gross misconduct as an officer of the court and member of the Bar, and prohibited from practicing law until otherwise ordered by the Court.”

Lawyer Francisco Cruz (extreme right) in a legal session with the Escalante farmers & fisherfolk facing eviction orders Photo courtesy of the Bacolod Social Action Center

The high court justices said that they had to invoke their “plenary disciplinary authority” against Cruz for claiming that “there is a lot of corruption around involving justices.”

The high tribunal’s action stemmed from Cruz’s alleged stinging reactions to the court’s handling of the case of his clients. First, he expressed doubts in the authenticity of the SC en banc resolution of April 5, 2005 penalizing him for his alleged misconduct. The resolution, he had said, did not bear the signatures of the justices. Then he accused the high court of “desecrating legal and jurisprudential norms” for upholding the Court of Appeals (CA) reversal of the lower court decision dismissing the complaint of Robert Ang against his clients.

Fighting a corporate giant

Cruz was a lawyer for six petitioners in a case of compliance of lease purchase agreement filed by Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) with the La Carlota  Regional Trial Court (RTC) sometime in mid-1990s. The six petitioners apparently received farm tractors on lease purchase from SMC chair Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, Jr. for supporting him in his presidential bid. The petitioners however returned the equipment after finding that they were not in good condition.

But the RTC dismissed Ang’s complaint including his two motions for reconsideration. In 2001, the CA reversed the lower court’s decision. Irritated by what he thought was “irregular,” Cruz filed a  review on certiorari on Sept. 15, 2003 and another motion for reconsideration on Jan. 12, 2004 with the SC. But the high court denied both motions, asserting “no reversible error had been committed by the Court of Appeals.”

This prompted the old lawyer to file two separate pleadings entitled “A Lawyer’s Query” and “A Practicing Lawyer’s Plaint” in 2004 where he complained against the SC’s “desecration of legal and jurisprudential norms.”

Changing the rules

In his plaint, Cruz questioned the rules of procedures used by the two high courts. He also questioned the giving of due course by the CA without notice of hearing in violation, he said, of the Rules of Court. He expressed confusion why this and all other violations had been glossed over by the SC. He asked whether the “rules of court (were) changed to accommodate the San Miguel mogul.”

He lamented that while he was expecting the SC to respond to his queries and charges in his two pleadings he was instead handed down an indefinite suspension.

A lawyer of the poor and exploited

A graduate of the UP College of Law, Cruz passed the Bar in 1955. Barely four years as legal researcher at the Senate, Cruz moved to Bacolod City, where he became the manager-legal counsel of the Luzon Surety Company Inc. It was also in Negros that he married a Bacolena.

In Negros, Cruz was touched by the deplorable conditions of the sugar workers, inequality and injustice in the province. Convinced that something should be done for the alleviation of the poor and the correction of social injustice, Cruz saw the Church, which was active then in various social actions, as an effective venue to render services to the poor.

In 1969 he volunteered as legal counsel of the Social Action Center (SAC) of the Diocese of Bacolod. It was through the SAC where he was remolded and embraced the plight, struggles and aspirations of the poor, especially the sugar workers. He got entangled with big landlords, private armed goons, and the military as he gave legal services pro bono to poor farmers and sugar workers.

Aside from his work in the diocese, Cruz also became active in various humanitarian civic clubs and the cause-oriented organizations, such as the National Alliance for Justice, Freedom and Democracy (NAFJD), Justice for Aquino and Justice for All Movement (JAJA), Kaakbay, Bayan and human rights organizations. He became the first coordinator of the Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag) in Negros, and later as its vice-chairman for Visayas.

His commitment and dedication for social justice earned him, among others, commendation by Judge Segundino Chua to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines; the St. Sylvester’s Papal Award for meritorious act in 1985; and the Aurora Aragon Quezon Award for Peace Advocacy and Peace Making in 1997.

Reacting to the SC order of suspension, Bishop Vicente Navarra, the clerics and staff of the Diocese of Bacolod expressed shock, saying how can it be done to “a good man, who has faithfully served indigent clients not just for free but even spent his own resources for travel, food and other expenses.”

A SAC staffer who has been assisting Cruz for years said, “The suspension of Cruz is a big loss to us, especially the thousands of our people in basic Christian communities who have availed of his free and good legal assistance.”

Badge of Honor

Archie Baribar, Cruz’s long time colleague in Flag and in the Civil Liberties Movement (CLM), said that the SC action is “understandable, but by all means, it is tantamount to slaying the champion of the poor and exploited, and therefore depriving them of the most sincere and courageous service they could get from a lawyer.”

Integrity, dedication and sacrifice for the poor, no matter what the price, is Frankie’s badge of honor, Baribar added.

Another CLM member, veteran human rights lawyer Rolando Villamor said: “Cruz has just demonstrated his firmness and consistency in fighting for the cause of the poor and the oppressed, no matter who is hit. If he had had fought fiercely the martial law regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, there’s no reason why he should remain complacent and silent over irregularities in the state courts.”

No use for appeal

Despite the expressions of shock and protest, Cruz has remained calm. “I am not angry, nor sad. I am not ashamed either. I just wanted to prove my point to them (SC) and the public. Which I did, and I am happy about that,” he said.

Asked if he would appeal the order before the same high court, Cruz told Bulatlat that he is reluctant, saying “There’s no use for appeal, because I know it will not succeed. …Their power is overwhelming. I will just work outside the court.”

“It is time to consider retiring from the practice of law,” he also said. Bulatlat

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