The law is an esteemed profession. Lawyers are respected individuals. The public recognizes the hard work and discipline they put into their studies, the preparation for the difficult Bar exams, and the rigorous practice afterward.
The reverence accorded to lawyers comes from the knowledge that they know better. The rest of us go about our routines with a vague notion of the rules governing our land. Lawyers, for their part, studied these rules and know exactly what to do when there is an infraction. Don’t we all feel a semblance of security when we are in the company of our lawyer friends—as if nobody can slight us or do us wrong?
They are defenders. They know what to do and they would not let evil prevail; there is always the law to set things right.
Because of this, they are measured against higher standards. They could be disbarred and disgraced if found living beneath what they know to be the correct way.
This is exactly why the law students and the lawyers involved in the death of freshman law student Horacio Tomas del Castillo III and who participated in its coverup do not deserve an ounce of our esteem.
Reading the messages exchanged among the members of the Aegis Juris Fraternity is downright sickening. These men can no longer claim that it was an accident and that they had nothing to do with it. The frantic conversation among the members betrayed their misplaced loyalties—to an organization, a so-called brotherhood, over the truth. Some of the participants chided the others for leaving the conversation. The purported leader was held in contempt at the Senate where he refused to answer the plainest and most evident of questions.
Where, in all their talk, was the basic acknowledgment of right over wrong?
It makes us cringe that this is the kind of lawyers who will one day craft or implement our laws, handle our cases and settle our disputes. Their elders are not any less free from responsibility.
These lawyers and would-be lawyers are an abomination.