Senate honors veteran constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas

The Senate on Monday adopted a resolution honoring veteran constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 88.

During its plenary session, the chamber approved Senate Resolution 674, authored by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, taking in consideration Senate Resolution 675, filed by Senator Richard Gordon, honoring the life of the late lawyer and Jesuit priest.

Bernas served as dean of the  Ateneo Law School in 1974 and in 2000 and belonged to the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the present Constitution.

Sotto, in sponsoring his measure, remembered Bernas being "humble" and "calm" and having a "strong sense of morals and ethics."

He added that Bernas was never selfish in sharing his knowledge not only to his students and his community but to the entire nation as well.

"He was a great Servant of the Church and the Law who had always responded to the call of legal and moral duty to protect democracy and human rights unmindful of his own physical well-being and whose unblemished devotion and faith in God and the Rule of Law had helped rebuild the country through his teachings, writings, and leadership," Sotto said.

"His death is great a loss not only to his Atenean family and to the legal profession but to the Filipino people and the nation as well," he added.

Bernas passed away at the Lucas Renewal Center of Loyola House of Studies in Quezon City.

His remains were cremated on Saturday morning and his ashes were brought to the Ateneo de Manila Jesuit Residence. Memorial masses will be held at the residence and in other communities in Ateneo, the Philippine Jesuits said.

His ashes will be kept at the Jesuit Health and Wellness Center until a funeral Mass and inurnment at the Province cemetery at the Sacred Heart Novitiate will be held in mid-March, it added. — Erwin Colcol/RSJ, GMA News