From Atty. Veneracion, UPLAW: A Statement of Support for Dean Leonen

IN SUPPORT OF DEAN MARVIC LEONEN: A STATEMENT ABOUT STRENGTH, COURAGE AND HUMILITY

by Connie Veneracion <http://www.facebook.com/connie.veneracion> on
Saturday, 11 December 2010 at 15:11
 
*Note: The following statement was written at the behest of members of UP
Law Class of 1987. Whether or not you are a UP Law graduate, if you support
Dean Marvic Leonen, we'd appreciate it if you can help disseminate the
statement.*
 
 
 
*Personal and individual statements in support of Dean Marvic Leonen may be
sent directly to the Diliman Chancellor oc.upd@up.edu.ph and UP President
op@up.edu.ph*
 
 
 
*Thank you.*
 
 
 
We knew Dean Marvic Leonen as a model student with a soft spot for those
disadvantaged by the law. He was a scholar as he was scholarly. He took such
a stringent path as a law student that we told endless stories about his
banal sense of humor and corny jokes. We always felt that he would not tread
the path toward traditional law practice. Somehow, we always knew that he
would practice law to promote every advocacy that he had been pushing for
since our student days. And so, he did. And so, he has. To this day, he
continues to be a crusader for academic excellence, the protection of the
environment and the rights of indigenous peoples.
 
 
 
*“To err is human” *
 
 
 
With such a lofty academic background and concomitant legal career, not a
few were stunned and disappointed by Dean Leonen's recent admissions about
the “honest mistakes” he committed when he failed to cite the sources for
portions of an article published in 2004 in the Integrated Bar of the
Philippines (IBP) Journal. For some, the mistakes he committed were a sure
sign of weakness and shabby academic standards, and readily admitting them
is an even more serious character flaw.
 
 
 
But making mistakes is not a sign of weakness; it is evidence of being
human. Neither age, education nor extensive professional experience render
us immune from committing errors, moments of sloppiness and making bad
judgment calls. Neither is it a sign of weakness to admit the truth. On the
contrary, it takes great strength and courage, and utmost humility, to own
up to one's mistakes and to be ready and willing to face their
repercussions.
 
 
 
Dean Marvic Leonen did not hide behind legal technicalities to avoid
admitting his mistakes nor face their consequences. He chose to deal with
the issue head-on, openly and publicly. He did not choose to re-interpret
the law on plagiarism nor reinvent the very concept of intellectual
dishonesty. He did not scramble to find political backers so he could make
himself untouchable. Although no charges have been filed against him,
although there have been nothing but allegations and accusations, and
although, as a brilliant lawyer, he still has the opportunity to wiggle out
of the tight spot he finds himself in, he opted to take the moral high
ground and offered to resign the deanship rather than hold on to it under a
murky cloud of doubt and suspicion.
 
 
 
If humility, decency and integrity are accepted as signs of weakness, what a
screwed world we must be living in.
 
 
 
*"The one who goes to court must do so with clean hands." *
 
 
 
The doctrine of unclean hands was invoked by the Philippine Social Justice
Foundation (Philjust) lawyers in its letter to Dean Marvic Leonen. In
effect, the Philjust lawyers say that Dean Leonen had no status in demanding
the resignation of Justice Mariano Del Castillo because he too is guilty of
plagiarism.
 
 
 
To the layman, it might sound reasonable and plausible. As a publicity stunt
and a character assassination attempt, it is catchy and likely to be
repeated and re-repeated. But the invocation of the doctrine of unclean
hands is so totally out of place that it is mind-blowing. In fact, its
out-of-context invocation is a perfect illustration of bad legal research
and a complete misunderstanding of the doctrine.
 
 
 
The doctrine of unclean hands refers to a situation where a complainant in a
specific case is barred from seeking relief from the defendant because the
complainant himself was a party to the wrongdoing from which the law suit
arises. Dean Leonen was not a party to the case in which Justice Del
Castillo, in writing the ponencia, was accused of committing plagiarism.
 
 
 
But the way that the doctrine of unclean hands was invoked by the Philjust
lawyers, it would seem to the non-lawyer that it means that only he who has
never committed a mistake or wrongdoing in his life has the right to seek
justice in a court of law or otherwise air his grievance via the legal
system. That person does not exist. Only the hypocrite, the arrogant and the
conceited will claim that he is free from all errors and fault. Are the
Philjust lawyers saying that the hypocrites of this world have a better
right in the legal system than the rest of us?
 
 
 
*Decency, integrity and humility should not be penalized *
 
 
 
Dean Marvic Leonen has tendered his resignation as a matter of principle so
that his past mistakes may be passed upon by his peers in the academe and to
give them an opportunity to reassess if he is still worthy of the deanship.
 
 
 
In a world full of leaders and wanna-be leaders who spend millions of pesos
and man hours polishing their images so that they may appear perfect to the
public, we find in Marvic Leonen a man who does not shirk from his humanity
and all the imperfections that go with being human. He only offers himself,
past mistakes and future resolves, no more and no less. While he knows that
he will have to live with his past mistakes, as we all do, we believe in his
capacity to rise above them and continue to embody and uphold the academic
standards that the U.P. College of Law has always strived to protect.
 
 
 
In support of Dean Marvic Leonen,