Good man amongst us

If there’s a man I wish would be running for an elective national post in the May 13 midterm elections, that would be Raoul Villaflor Victorino. I would be the first to vote for him, and I’m sure a vast throng of people would claim to be first too, to do the same –people who know him as I do. It’s his birthday tomorrow, which means he will be 84 years old, which is no reason why he’s not running. Being my icon, he can be trusted with my, and your life.

Raoul Villaflor Victorino is from Pasig, was a college scholar while studying for his bachelor of laws at the University of the Philippines where he also finished his master of laws, and took advanced studies for lawyers at the Harvard Law School.

He did dabble in local politics – was elected municipal councilor (was topnotcher) of Pasig, senior board member (topnotcher) and floor leader of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng Rizal, where he served as secretary-general of the Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Sanggunian.

He held two appointive positions in the government, first as chief presidential legal counsel where he was conferred with the Order of Lakandula, with the rank of Bayani, given “to individuals for leadership, prudence, courage and resolve in the service of the people,” and secondly, as a member of the “Subic Bay Drugs Case” fact-finding committee conferred with the Presidential Medal of Merit for distinguished service to the Philippine government through the Justice Carolina Grino Aquino Commission. He served as chair of INFORM (Individuals for Ratification of the Constitution Movement, Metro Manila, 1984), and former executive director of the Board of Transportation. He was Associate Justice of Sandiganbayan, and former Secretary of the Commission on Appointments. He was a regular member representing the private sector, of the Judicial and Bar Council, Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2005-2008.

He is a former senior partner of Victorino, OBieta & Lopez Law Offices, 1991-1992 and is an officer or consultant of private companies. He stayed in Europe, particularly in Switzerland, to observe and study banking and financing systems, from 1963 to 1966.

Today he keeps busy by fulfilling to the hilt high positions in private endeavors: as dean of the College of Law, Philippine Christian University, and president of the Unida Ecumenical Church; and chair of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the Rizal Youth Development Foundation, and corporate secretary of the Gusi Peace Prize Foundation.

I asked him about relationships and challenges that he values. His answer: “My four F’s – my Friends, my family, my Fatherland and my Faith.”

He has been “faithful as a Friend, and continues to be around as if nothing has changed.”

He cannot live without his family. “They were there in times of crisis or calm, in comfort or in pain, they have been the light of my life, the power of my daily existence.”

“I cannot live without the Fatherland, which I have served to the best of my ability, the warmest of my heart, the loftiest of my motive. I have served the government since 1959 under seven heads of state – from President Carlos Garcia to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.”

“I can live without politics and I can live without my profession of law. But I cannot live without my Faith. I cannot live without worship of God. I cannot live without seeing the divine in each and everyone one of us.”

Raoul as president of the Iglesia Unida Ekyumenikal, and as Predicador na may Caragong Pastoral in his home church, the Bishop Moises F. Buzon Memorial Church in Tondo, delivers the sermon every second Sunday of the month.

Behind the pulpit, as in his everyday tongue, he is soft-spoken, and a good listener to people who come to him for advice. But mind you, when he was a student at the UP, he was president of the debating and oratorical club, as well as chancellor of the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity, and administrative assistant of the Philippine Collegian.

“In so far as my faith is concerned, I have continued to be very active in my religious community, in my church – the Unida Ecumenical Church, as its president since 1995, and the ecumenical circles – like the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, as chairperson for two separate terms.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines, he said, is the largest aggrupation of mainline Protestant and non-Roman Catholic churches in the country committed to travelling the ecumenical journey toward Shalom together, discerning and responding to the challenges of Philippine society and the world, in faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Since its founding in 1963, the Council has championed justice, peace, human rights, environmental protection, humanitarian relief, development education, and ministry to the disadvantaged and marginalized sectors of society such as children, women and youth.

“So we have issued statements on pursuing justice and peace, solidarity with the victims of the Jolo bombing, on defending the rights of children by saying no to lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility, against intensified militarization, or taking away the stigma against people living with HIV-AIDS, against moves to change the Constitution, of respecting the faith expressions of people, of migrants, among others.

Raoul cherishes memories of his relationship with the late Senate President Jovito Salonga, his uncle. “He was truly every inch a great statesman, the greatest we ever had. And that is his greatest influence to me – to serve my country to the best of my ability, the warmest of my heart, the loftiest of my motive and the steadfast willfulness of my soul. He is my example of probity, integrity, independence.”

Are the values of people, our youth today good, bad, wanting?

“It is a sad commentary that today, ours is a broken, fragmented country. Our value system is no different. There is needless fragmentation of our country over issues and events, that most often than not, bring sorrow and despair to us. But I am not losing hope. We should not lose hope. The Bible is instructive. II Chronicles 7:14 says: ‘If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.’

“The challenge for our public servants and leaders is to make a difference in the discharge of our duties. How do they do that? And how should they do that? The answer is found in the greatest book ever written – to infuse the Christian principles exhorted by Apostle Paul in his letters to the Philippians (chapter 4, verse 8): ‘Whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.’

“Imbued with these principles, we make this society – our country – a better one when we serve the public with ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control’ – the fruit of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Galatians 5:22.

“Committed to these things, then rightfully, the Philippines will be great again because ‘righteousness makes a nation great; sin is a disgrace to any nation’” (Proverbs 14:34).

What is his hope for the coming election?

“As any other Filipino, it is my hope that we will have a clean, honest, orderly, peaceful, credible and meaningful elections.”

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