‘Neither Fear Nor Favor’: Memoirs of Conchita Carpio Morales

ENDEAVOR**media[28930]**At his inauguration as the 15th President at the Luneta on June 30, 2010, Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Simeon Aquino III took his oath of office before Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales. It was my pleasant task to invite Justice Morales through her sister, a fellow Rotarian.Last week, I rekindled ties with erstwhile fellow workers in government and other guests who were invited to the launching of the book Neither Fear Nor Favor: The Life and Legacy of Conchita Carpio Morales, authored by Palanca award winner Jose Dalisay, my fellow UP student activist from Dekada 70. Interviewed on-site at the book launch held last week in Makati, she said she wanted her biography published primarily for the benefit of her grandchildren, as their fathers — her sons — passed away more than a decade ago.I was seated beside Dr. Ester Albano Garcia from the UP Department of Chemistry and former President of the University of the East. She said she had known Justice Chit since they were seven years old as they had the same piano teacher in Paoay. Also in our table was Rep. Linabelle Ramos Villarica, who is from Banna (formerly Espiritu), Ilocos Norte and Solicitor General Darlene ‘Lelen’ Berberabe. I was also happy to see and greet my former Cabinet buddy, now DEPDev (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio ‘Arsi’ Balisacan, who hails from Solsona, Ilocos Norte. Also there was my fellow member of the UP Student Council, former Ambassador to Belgium Victoria Sisante-Bataclan, who was also our country’s envoy to the European Union, and former Senate President Franklin Drilon.Among the early arrivals was Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr., whom Justice Morales defended when the former was impeached by the House, who was seated with fellow former CJ Artemio Panganiban and former Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, her cousin.Highlight of the event was a Q & A with Lian Buan, the Rappler reporter who covered her last two years as Ombudsman from 2017 to 2019. Her first question: “You have been a Regional Trial Court judge (RTC) Court of Appeals Justice, Supreme Court Justice, and Ombudsman. Among these, which was your least favorite position?’Justice Chit said her stint as an RTC judge was quite memorable. The RTC is a court of first instance for litigants seeking resolution of legal disputes, or redress of injury, death, or civil damages. She recalled an incident when she ordered a lawyer to remove his eyeglasses because she always wanted to observe the facial expression, including eye movement and other aspects of body language, of those testifying in her sala.One of the chapters is headlined with her picture at a Malacañang dinner reception where she is flanked by Presidents Barack Obama and Noynoy Aquino. I recall that she asked me if that photo-op could be arranged, and I requested my Palace colleague, then Social Secretary Susan Reyes, to set it up. The caption says it was in April 2014, when she was serving as the Ombudsman. Interestingly, she chose that photo to narrate an incident in the chapter entitled Risks and Threats:“On the afternoon of May 30, 2012,a security guard at the Carpio compound in Putatan, Muntinlupa came across a plastic bag a few meters away from the main gate. Looking inside the bag, he found a canister containing what was later identified as a live M26 hand grenade, along with a threatening message. Responding police disarmed the grenade, but no suspect was ever identified.”On further review, I discovered that this foregoing incident happened on the day after then Chief Justice Corona was convicted by the impeachment court. I recall that then Ombudsman Morales testified at that trial on her discovery of Justice Corona’s US dollar accounts as part of her analysis of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). Parenthetically, his successor as Ombudsman imposed restrictions on media access to high government officials’ SALN filed with his office.The book — all of 272 pages — is divided into 50 chapters. Except for the last three which are on her notable Majority Decisions, Dissenting Opinions, and a Post-Supreme Court Case, each chapter is covered in only three to five pages, thereby enabling the reader to absorb the contents in bite-sized portions. The contents are divided into five main sections: Probinsiyana form Paoay, on her childhood and teenage years; From Lawyer to Judge, on her career evolution; At the Supreme Court, on her stint at the judiciary’s highest level; The People’s Agent, on her Ombudsman tour of duty; and Retirement and Legacy, her most recent reflections.She shared her Supreme Court retirement speech and I was pleasantly surprised to read that she chose to end her message with one of my favorite passages from a well-worn book on Irish Prayers, as follows;“May the road rise to meet you,/ May the wind be always at your back,/ May the sun shine warm upon your face,/ May God hold you in the palm of his hand.”Then, she concluded:“And so, finally, to borrow Shakespeare’s words in Hamlet (Act I, Scene V): Without more circumstance at all, I find it fit that we shake hands and part…Until we meet again.”I am truly grateful to be regarded as a friend by Justice Conchita Carpio Morales, who served our Republic honorably by performing her duties with “neither fear nor favor.”Comments may be sent to sonnycoloma@gmail.com