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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
THE Integrated Bar of the
Philippines (IBP) has honored Sen. Edgardo J. Angara by naming the
IBP building’s new wing after him for his “outstanding legal and
leadership service in the Bar.”
The inauguration of the Edgardo
J. Angara Wing also coincided with that of the IBP’s Jose B.L.
Reyes Hall in honor of the late Associate Justice JBL Reyes.
“What he greatly thought, he
nobly did,” lawyer Jose Vicente Salazar, outgoing IBP national
president, said of Angara.
Salazar said that a majority of
the IBP governors and members adopted two months ago a resolution to
put up the Angara Wing. He said that the wing and the JBL Reyes Hall
are now parts of the IBP building in honor of their “individual
and shared commitment in serving as the guideposts and landmarks in
our profession.”
In his response, Angara said that
the new wing and hall are not simply new divisions of the IBP
building.
“They serve as [the] spirit and
symbol of the rule of law practice and perception of law today,”
he said.
He noted that the IBP was weak
before and its building on Quezon Boulevard was old and decrepit, a
far cry from the present site among high-rise in the thriving
Ortigas business center.
Angara, as executive
vice-president of the IBP in 1977, was instrumental in getting the
lot from Don Paquito Ortigas and in securing a loan for the building
from the Social Security System.
Angara, who served as the IBP
president in 1979, also cited Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion,
along with Justice JBL Reyes, for giving the IBP its social
conscience through the legal aid program.
“They are the ones worth
emulating because they built up the legal aid program of IBP, and
they did it at the time when people were very cautious and fearful
of legal matters,” Angara said.
He expressed confidence that the
IBP would continue to be the primary institution that would
“elevate standards of the legal profession, improve the
administration of justice and enable the Bar to be more effective in
public responsibility.”
Two years ago, the IBP honored
Angara with a lifetime achievement award.
Angara is an active volunteer in
the IBP Alumni Association and the UP Law Alumni Association, two
other large law organizations in the country.
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