1st woman IBP president sworn in; Sereno asks if taxpayer support to IBP still justified

Lawyer Rosario Setias-Reyes made history on Tuesday as she became the first ever woman to serve as national president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the 55,000-strong mandatory organization of lawyers in the country.

 

Setias-Reyes was sworn in at the Supreme Court during a special session for the oath-taking of the national officers of the IBP, who will be serving for two years until 2017.

 

"I shall carry out the burden of my office as a mother would attend assiduously to her newborn in the unholy hours of the night, breaking sleep now and then," said Reyes, who replaces former IBP president Vicente Joyas.

 

Reyes was sworn in at a time when the high tribunal itself is being led by the first ever female chief justice in Philippine history, Maria Lourdes Sereno, whose term is until her compulsory retirement in 2030.

 

In her speech, Reyes vowed to keep the IBP away from "brewing controversy," even as she admitted that IBP members are "not canting moralists who do not admit our human imperfections."

 

Like her predecessors, Reyes vowed that the IBP under her term would continue to be defenders of the Constitution and the Supreme Court.

 

She recalled how the IBP "dug its heels to the onslaught of political interventionism when it came out strong for judicial independence and scored against the persecutory character of the Senate impeachment trial in 2012."

 

The impeachment led to the ouster of then Chief Justice Renato Corona for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

 

Reyes also noted how the IBP "Came out strong for the SC" against the threat by President Benigno Aquino III to clip the judicial review power of the high tribunal after it ruled against the Palace's Disbursement Acceleration Program and Congress' Priority Development Assistance Fund.

 

Among the plans of Reyes as president are the establishment of a social insurance for lawyers and the grant of scholarships to deserving children of lawyers, as well as other projects to benefit lawyers and their families.

 

Review of taxpayer support to the IBP

 

Meanwhile, in a speech following Reyes', Sereno lauded the IBP's accomplishments over the years, expressing hope that the IBP and the SC would continue to have a "cordial relationship."

 

While bar integration has been proven effective in several countries like the US and Canada, as well as in England, Sereno cited criticisms against it.

 

Sereno said opponents of bar integration had long feared government authority would dominate the bar and that local bar associations would be weakened by the IBP. 

 

"Cliquism will be the inevitable result. Effective lobbying will not be possible. The bar will become an impersonal Bar and politics will intrude into its affairs," said Sereno.

 

Sereno, then, put forward the idea of a possible review of a 1973 Supreme Court resolution ordering the integration of the Philippine Bar.

 

"I will urge the court to consider whether the assumptions of the 1973 resolution continue to be correct and whether the continued support by the taxpayer, through the annual allocation of a subsidy to the IBP, and that by private lawyers to the annual fees for the upkeep of the IBP, has been validated and can continue to be justified," Sereno said.  — ELR, GMA News