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WHEN then Labor Secretary Arturo Brion was appointed associate
justice of the Supreme Court, the people of Laguna felt a sudden
surge of pride.
Laguna Gov. Ningning Lazaro, articulating their
sentiments, said the appointment of Brion, a native of San Pablo
City, to the highest court, is a distinct honor to Laguna for which
they are proud and thankful.
“He is our province’s favorite son, who
earned his early education with distinction in Laguna’s elementary
and secondary schools,” she said as she thanked President Arroyo
for making a wise choice.
Brion, the third justice of the High Tribunal to
come from Laguna, went to the Ateneo University to take up law,
graduating in 1974 as valedictorian and topping the bar the
following year. He was a gold medalist for academic excellence.
Also paying accolade to the President for
Brion’s well-deserved appointment were the country’s diverse
labor groups. They hailed her statesmanship in naming Brion, a
strong pillar of organized labor.
They felt honored for having in the Supreme
Court a man whose heart is with labor.
Law is Brion’s forte but he is fascinated by
labor as a special calling. After his graduation from the Ateneo, he
pursued a masteral study in law at a prestigious university in
Canada. His thesis interestingly is titled, “The Right to Unsafe
Work in Ontario.”
Eventually, he served in the legal service of
the Ontario labor ministry.
A brilliant recruit of the late Labor Secretary
Blas F.Ople, the new justice first served as head of the Institute
of Labor and Manpower Studies (ILMS), DOLE’s think tank. He became
deputy labor minister and labor secretary, an appointee of the
President.
“Ka Blas was my client when I first interacted
with him. I was part of a team that the Siguion Reyna Law Office
sent to attend to his pro bono and political cases in 1977. The
lawyer-client relationship, however, did not last long as I soon
realized that I had an intellectual giant for a client,” he said
of the late statesman.
“I soon stood in awe of the man; I became a
listener more than a legal adviser in our meetings as the
discussions that took off from legal points diverged into other
fields, particularly into labor, politics, government, history and
the analysis of current events,” he wrote in his article to the
Ople book, As We Remember Him.
As labor secretary, Brion hewed close to
Ople’s policies and programs, but he made his own bright
innovations that benefited millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
He was obsessed with creating a strong impact on the poor through
his measures focusing on jobs and incomes creation.
During his two-year term at DOLE, he has
deployed yearly over a million OFWs to over 190 countries. His labor
issuances were aimed at the increased deployment of overseas
workers, the enhancement of their incomes, and their protection from
excessive placement fees and employers’ exploitation.
His memorandum eliminating placement fees in the
recruitment of domestic helpers has liberated thousands of maid
applicants from the unconscionable practices of money-mad
fee-charging recruiters.
In negotiating labor agreements with other
countries, he made sure that the burden of paying placement fees is
not placed on the shoulders of worker-applicants but on foreign
employers.
Partly as a tribute to Ople as the “father”
of overseas employment, Brion has inaugurated a project that seeks
to create the first ever migration library in the Philippines. Its
major component is a volume on the oral and written history of
contract migration.
“We need to look back to get a sense of where
we are and how we can strengthen our institutions in order to cope
with the demands of an increasing OFW population,” Brion said.
The project, which involves the participation of
the Blas Ople Policy Center headed by former labor undersecretary
Toots Ople, the late statesman’s daughter, is expected to be
finished on December 8, this year, in time for DOLE’s 75th
anniversary celebration.
Brion had a cause, a goal and a vision for
improving the lot of the country’s working men and women.
We are certain that Brion will be a great asset
to the Supreme Court where he can contribute his own views to the
growth of a rich and far-reaching jurisprudence.
He possesses excellent academic credentials but
he does not wear his legal erudition on his sleeve. What makes him
stand taller than many of his peers is his great humility.
agr0324@yahoo.com
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