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‘Habal-habal’ justice applies for Supreme Court seat
Court of Appeals Justice Edgardo delos Santos of Cebu is hoping for a seat on the Supreme Court bench to wrap up his 40 year-long career in the judiciary on a "higher note."
Delos Santos, one of 13 aspirants vying to succeed retired associate justice and incumbent Ombudsman Samuel Martires in the High Court, faced the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) on Wednesday.
"I am already 66 years of age and I have been in the government service for more than 40 years. I rose from the ranks; I think it's a fitting note that I will end my government career on a higher level," he told the JBC.
The lengthy interview also saw him doubting the legality of the SC's promulgation of rules on the issuance of precautionary hold departure orders, and hinting at a view that the president may withdraw from a treaty by himself.
He said that the SC's issuance of rules that may impinge on one's right to travel may be "ultra vires," or beyond the judiciary's authority, "because the impairment of the right to travel has been enshrined in our Bill of Rights in the Constitution."
The appeals court justice also said that the silence of the Constitution on the requirement for congressional concurrence on treaty withdrawals is a "reason why the president may unilaterally withdraw" from treaties.
A high-profile case involving Duterte's unilateral decision to withdraw the Philippines' membership from the International Criminal Court is pending before the SC.
Asked for his judicial philosophy, Delos Santos said it is "to continue to be hard-working and to render justice based on what is provided for by law and if the law is not clear, then apply equity."
"In short, I have to apply the law as it is, and temper it with social justice," he said.
Delos Santos is the CA justice who wrote the decision that prohibited the Cebu City government from dumping garbage at the Inayawan Landfill. The SC upheld the ruling this year.
'Habal-habal' judge
The interview was notably marked by Delos Santos' anecdotes, which involved him, then already a Dumaguete judge, ferrying his family around on a motorcycle—earning him the moniker of "habal habal" judge.
Judge "Edsa," as he is known, started out as a legal researcher, was later hired as technical Assistant and later Court Confidential Attorney of then-SC justice Felix Makasiar, then was appointed municipal trial court judge of Siaton, Negros Oriental.
After four years in Siaton, he became judge of the Dumaguete City municipal trial court for six years, then was appointed a regional trial court judge in Bacolod City, where he worked for 16 years.
It was his son, he revealed, who challenged him to apply for a seat in the appellate court. "You get appointed in the Court of Appeals, dad, and I will pass the Bar exam," Delos Santos recalled his eldest son as saying.
Delos Santos, a fisherman's son, did not shy from openly discussing his beginnings, saying he had wanted to become a writer or a journalist before taking up law but that his family could not afford it.
Looking back on leaner times, the justice also shared that he had gone to pains to made sure his children stayed in school after an educational insurance plan fell through.
He was able to pay his obligations to Siliman University for his children's education after two years, he said, without the school officials knowing that he was already a CA justice.
"I didn’t reveal that I was a justice of the Court of Appeals not only to protect my profession; perhaps for some it may be degrading but I signed promissory notes for my children to take the examination permits," he said.
But the "habal-habal" days appear to be behind him now as the CA justice of 10 years told the JBC that he has purchased a diesel Toyota Fortuner, "payable in five years," after earlier being able to afford second-hand, non-airconditioned L300. — BM, GMA News
