Senate needs outsiders – Florin Hilbay

MANILA, Philippines — His story can be the script of a movie or telenovela: a poor boy from Tondo, Manila who rose above his situation to become Bar topnotcher and the youngest solicitor general, and one of those responsible for the country’s victory in the arbitration case against China over the West Philippine Sea in 2016.

His mother – an Ilocana – finished Grade 6 and landed as a household help when she went to Manila to seek a better life, while his father doubled as a messenger for a telegram company and vendor in Divisoria to provide for their family.

“I want to inspire and be a story of hope,” Florin Hilbay, an opposition senatorial candidate, told STAR editors and reporters on Thursday night.

It was a freewheeling discussion ranging from the personal to his priority legislation should he win a Senate seat. At 44, he is still single and had girlfriends but would not comment when asked about his status and the rumor that he is currently dating a singer-actress.

Hilbay said he is bald by choice because he is a surfer and a top surfer in the world that he idolizes is bald. He was named after chess grandmaster Florin Gheorgiu of Romania whom his father admired. His two brothers, Alex and John, are also named after chess grandmasters. He admitted to have competed in a chess tournament – in the barangay.

“How do I answer questions (about my love life)?” Hilbay asked as he immediately became comfortable conversing with the people being introduced to him, even joking that the STAR’s assistant entertainment editor was a lookalike of presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and that “bumilis ang heartbeat ko pagkita ko (my heart skipped a beat when I saw her).”

No, he does not have that sing-song tone that comes out when he speaks publicly as he breezed through the questions thrown at him, taking lightly those that went like: “So you surf, may abs ka?”

New voice

A known critic of the current administration’s policies, the constitutional law professor for 18 years at the University of the Philippines vows to guard the 1987 Constitution from those who want to tinker with it for their own benefit.

His other advocacy is the budget, which he thinks is a source of corruption if unchecked.

“We need to make the season of check and balances work again and that requires independent voices in the Senate. I suppose the more credible, more independent ones will be the new faces and new voices because they are not heavily invested in the workings of the government,” Hilbay said.

“There’s a genuine need for outsiders today,” he added, conceding that it will be an uphill climb for him to win, given the famous surnames of other candidates that are easy to recall during elections.

But he prefers to dream big, Hilbay said, which could also be the reason behind his rags-to-riches story. 

If elected, Hilbay said he would be “very strong” against Charter change and focus on the motives of trying to push for it, noting that the House of Representatives’ draft federal charter is far from what President Duterte is pushing.

“They just really want to open the Constitution. There’s a constant worry there. When a president tries to open the Constitution they are only interested in extending their terms. There’s really a need to defend the 1987 Constitution because it has pre-commitments about term limits, economic provisions,” Hilbay said.

The oversight functions of the Senate should also be utilized more, he said, including how the Philippines should deal with China to have a more consistent policy despite changes in leadership, even if the president is also the country’s top diplomat.

“Because I think there are two really important roles of Congress, one is to police the budget and second is to oversee the operations of the national government,” he said.

Hilbay admitted he and his team are still thinking about his slogan or tagline and that he wanted people to understand the importance of a budget to the nation as it is to a family, and possibly include how taxes and high prices could also affect the quality of people’s lives.

After all, “I am an ordinary person from an ordinary family.”

Lucky protégé

Honed by top-caliber lawyers such as the late Senate president Jovito Salonga and retired Supreme Court associate justice Vicente Mendoza, Hilbay had been in the forefront of high-profile issues like the Reproductive Health Law aside from the South China Sea dispute.

He considered Salonga, a 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, as the most influential person in his career. In 2003, Hilbay joined Bantay Katarungan, an anti-corruption organization founded by Salonga after retiring from politics. 

He also worked as researcher and writer for Mendoza, whom he described as the “greatest constitutionalist.”

“That’s how I learned the craft. That’s the learning experience,” Hilbay said.

Hilbay is running under Aksyon Demokratiko, a party founded by the late senator Raul Roco. He said he shares the same values and principles that the party fights for, which is “to promote democracy and rule of law; to protect the welfare of ordinary citizens.”

Aksyon Demokratiko is part of the opposition coalition, which is led by the Liberal Party with Vice President Leni Robredo as chair.

Campaign pitch

Hilbay said he wants to pattern his campaign after that of Robredo, a widow who captivated voters with how she worked on the sidelines as a human rights lawyer as her husband, the late interior secretary Jesse Robredo, took the spotlight as Naga City mayor for a long time.

“She told me to just repeat my story a million times,” Hilbay said, hoping it would connect him to the voters, especially with social media where he is active and has gained quite a following.

He is also pinning his hopes on the votes of the young, including those in colleges and universities.

He graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a degree in Economics but decided to take up law at the University of the Philippines as an Iskolar ng Bayan; it took four rides from home in Tondo to Diliman.

He topped the 1999 Bar examination with a score of 88.5 percent. “They say that was the hardest Bar exam… it had a passing rate of only 16 percent,” he said.

In 2000, he became one of the youngest faculty members of the UP College of Law. Hilbay obtained his Masters of Law degree from Yale Law School in 2005.

In 2014, then president Benigno Aquino III appointed Hilbay as solicitor general, becoming the youngest – at 40 years and six months – to occupy the post. 

“He (Aquino) didn’t know me when he appointed me. He met me when I took my oath,” he said.

As the former top government lawyer, Hilbay pushed for bringing the P71-billion coconut levy funds to government coffers for the benefit of the farmers.

Not known to many, Hilbay also defended Sen. Grace Poe, then a presidential candidate, in her citizenship and residency cases before the Supreme Court. Hilbay said Poe, a foundling, is a natural-born citizen eligible for election to national posts. He emphasised that this position went beyond Poe, because it meant that all foundlings are thus presumed to be natural-born citizens.

He also represented the government in the case filed by the Knights of Rizal against property developer DM Consunji Inc. (DMCI) Homes over the construction of the 49-story Torre de Manila condominium, which is branded by critics as the “Pambansang Photobomber.”

Hilbay likewise defended the legality of the controversial Reproductive Health Law. 

Fun time

But it’s not all serious stuff for the “dreamer” who never thought about politics early in his career in government and therefore chose to be quiet rather than be a media darling. There is a running joke that he was heard from only seven times during his stint as solicitor general.

Aside from surfing in famous spots in the country, including Iba, San Narciso, and San Marcelino in Zambales; La Union; Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte; and Baler, Aurora, Hilbay also plays the guitar and can sing the hits of John Mayer; Peter, Paul and Mary; Eraserheads; Asin and Joey Ayala.

“The last time I surfed was six months ago in Bali (Indonesia),” he said, adding he is also a good surfing teacher.

He is ready to sing – but not dance – during the campaign, Hilbay said, and go through the rigors of it in his trademark blue shirt and sneakers.

“Go for gold,” he stressed.