AT PRECISELY THE stroke of midnight on December 6, Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban, the country’s 21st Chief Magistrate, will hang his judicial robe for the last time after 11 years in the Supreme Court. He leaves behind a valuable legacy of priceless contributions not only to the Philippine but to the global judiciary – the signing of judicial cooperation agreements with other countries and the highly successful Global Forum on Liberty and Prosperity, among others.
     Since his appointment as Associate Justice in 1995, Chief Justice Panganiban has written around 1,200 full-length decisions, a hundred separate opinions, several thousand minute resolutions disposing of controversies, as well as 11 books that marked his every year in the Court.
     And in a few days short of a year as chief magistrate, Chief Justice Panganiban kept his word to live up to his judicial philosophy of safeguarding the liberty of the people and nurturing their prosperity, while upholding the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. In litigations involving civil liberties, Chief Justice Panganiban said that “the scales should weigh heavily against the government and in favor of the people – particularly the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, the dispossessed, and the weak.” On the other hand, he said that “in conflicts affecting prosperity, development, and the economy, deference must be accorded to the political branches of the government.”
     This was proven by the Panganiban court early on when... more