Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee – the light that did not fail

ON April 22, 2019, the Knights of Rizal shall unveil the marker commemorating the 101st natal day (April 18, 1918) of its former supreme commander and the nation’s former chief justice, Claudio Teehankee.

From his earliest years, Chief Justice Teehankee held the promise to be a bright and shining light in the Philippine legal firmament. His Ateneo de Manila College of Law graduation yearbook made the forecast, expressed in the format of the digest of a court ruling, under these terms: “Statement of Facts:

“Mr. Claudio Teehankee is the Valedictorian, Law Graduating Class of 1940. He is the prefect of the College of Law Sodality. He has won the academic scholarship award for his class for four consecutive years. Gifted with exceptionally rare talent and reasoning, he has on many occasions matched his legal skill with his own professors. Let us look further back into the personal records of this, the brightest, youngest law graduate of this year. Mr. Teehankee completed the Bachelor of Arts course in this institution in 1918. Valedictorian, councilor, orator, Sodality prefect, associate editor of the Aegis, etc. — there just is no

important activity in the college where Mr. Teehankee did not play a good part. Will he succeed?

“HELD:

“It is our opinion that he will go a long way in the legal field. Take a good look at the handsome man on this page, then glance at his long list of academic and extra-curricular activities. We certainly cannot rule otherwise, for real, incontrovertible facts make up the history and record of this man, better known as “Ding” to his friends. We remand his case to the public, for they shall certainly see and hear more of him in the future when greater things are done in the legal profession!”

True to expectations, he shone ever brighter when he entered the legal profession where he earned distinctions or became:

• Bar Topnotcher (1st Place), 1940 Bar Examinations, with a grade of 94.35%.

• Leading Law Practitioner, practicing with statesmen Claro M. Recto and Jose W. Diokno, later in partnership with Senators Lorenzo Tanada and Emmanuel Pelaez.

• Secretary of Justice after a short stint as undersecretary.

• Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, noted for his erudition and integrity, and for his dissents during the martial law years in defense of the Constitution, human rights, and the rule of law.

• Chairman of the Civil Liberties Union of the Philippines and subsequently vice chairman of its Board of Trustees.

• Supreme Commander of the Knights of Rizal.

• Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for some time as the appointing authority, unhappy with his dissents, repeatedly by-passed him.

• Chief Justice of the Philippines.

• Philippine Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

He brought honor to his lofty positions not solely due to his towering intellect but due to his staunch and unflinching adherence to democratic principles.

He unfailingly held on to these principles: his was the light that did not fail, serving as guide in the legal darkness that many believed was then enveloping the country. His Supreme Court dissents, even when solitary, were insistent and unyielding. He refused to give up ground and became the anchor that others held on to.

In our time and age when the nation is not lacking in turbulence, Chief Justice Teehankee’s exemplary record and words of wisdom should be fitting reminders to us of how our leaders in the times past thought and acted, and how we should perhaps think and act as we meet our own challenges.

I quote below some of the chief justice’s words of wisdom, drawn from the collection of Daniel T. Martinez in his book “Chief Justice Teehankee speaks.” Although spoken in the context of his time, I cite three of my most treasured passages as they speak even to our own time.

On the judiciary that he headed, he expressed his thoughts and expectations from judges in these plain and simple words:

“The heaviest burden of judges is to deserve the respect of our people. Respect must be earned. It cannot be litigated, mandated, or adjudged. The courts are perceived by the people not only as a legal, but more, as a moral entity. Justice as a philosophy and as a legal concept may be beyond the ken of the ordinary people. Basically, they want help. They want their problems solved. They want their conflicts to be settled. All fairly and justly. They go to the judge whom they expect to be honest, fair, and knowledgeable. They are not looking for scholars, at least at the level of the trial court . They want someone who will understand their problems. In a sense, the judge for them is the father or mother figure who will resolve and take care of their problems. When their just expectations are not met, then the law for them becomes another tool of oppression or injustice.”

“. . . it is indispensable to have an intellectually competent, morally incorruptible and courageously independent judiciary sworn to protect and enforce the law.”

True to his character, he did not mince words in defining what our society immediately needs when he said:

“The times call for a change in the habits and attitudes of our people. Only by changing – changing first from within – can we effectively combat criminality and injustice. The change must start from above – in the upper strata of government officialdom, in the leader class of the community, in the inner circles of entrenched influence and affluence of our society.”

The lights shining from these words will never fade nor dim except to those of us who do not want to look and do not want to see. But we only need to look and we cannot fail but see. That is the value of looking back and remembering Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee.