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People’s lawyering goes a long way back in history

Monday, May 28, 2012

People’s lawyering goes a long way back in history


By Satur C. Ocampo


Apolinario Mabini, Jose Abad Santos, Claro M. Recto, Jose W. Diokno, and Lorenzo M. Tanada. What do these historical figures have in common?

They were all lawyers and patriots, yes. Above and beyond that, at crucial junctures in Philippine history, these men proved to be “passionately committed people’s lawyers.” They serve as polestars to the public-interest, human rights, or people’s lawyers of today.

As a lawyer and head of the Cabinet of the First Philippine Republic at the turn of the 20th century, Mabini’s most important act was to author the decree placing under the government all the agricultural lands that had been grabbed by the Spanish friars, ultimately for distribution to the Filipino tillers.

Mabini was the quintessential advocate of genuine agrarian reform. Sadly, after subduing the First Republic in the Philippine-American War, the Americans reversed that historic decree. Agrarian reform remains unfulfilled until today..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/05/25/peoples-lawyering-goes-a-long-way-back-in-history/

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