A Muslim in the Supreme Court

https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2009/09/22/507181/muslim-supreme-court
FROM THE STANDS - Domini M. Torrevillas () - September 22, 2009 - 12:00am

The Philippine Supreme Court was established on June 11, 1901, but in its 108 years of
existence, only one representative of the Muslim community has served it as associate
justice. This was Justice Abdulwahid Bidin of Sulu who was appointed by the late President
Corazon Aquino on Jan. 17, 1987, and who retired on April 7, 1995. Fourteen years after Bidin’s
death, no Muslim lawyer- judge has sat in the High Tribunal.

It’s time a second Muslim sat in the highest court of the land. His appointment will be in keeping
with the intent and spirit of the Peace Agreement of 1996 signed by the GRP-Panel and the Moro
National Liberation Front Panel which provides that it shall be the policy of the national
government to have at least one justice in the Supreme Court and at least two justices in the
Court of Appeals coming from among qualified jurists in the Autonomous Region of Muslim
Mindanao. The provision of this agreement was subsequently incorporated into Republic Act No.
9054, which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved on March 31, 2001.

Prior to the agreement and laws, the government has provided for Muslim representation in the
appellate courts. Thus there have been five Muslim justices serving in the Court of Appeals,
namely the late Justice Mama Busran of Marawi City; the late Justice Abdulwahid A. Bidin of
Tawi-Tawi who was later appointed as associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and, from Sulu,
the late Justice Asaali Isnani, Justice Jainal D. Rasul, and Justice Omar U. Amin. At present, two
CA justices are Hakim S. Abdulhawid of Tawi-Tawi and Japar D. Dimaampao of Marawi City.

The appointment of competent Muslims to key positions in government is a strong

demonstration of redistributing decision-making powers to minority groups. On October 5,
Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago is set to retire, and perhaps the seat she leaves vacant should
be given to Court of Appeals Justice Hakim Abdulwahid, who had already been nominated to the
post by the Judicial and Bar Council twice, when Justice Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez retired on
April 30, and Justice Dante O. Tinga, on May 11.

There will be two other vacancies this year when Justice Leonardo A. Quisumbing retires on
November 6 and Justice Minita Chico-Nazario on December 5. But the early appointment of
Justice Abdulwahid — if possible — to fill the seat left vacant upon Justice Ynares-Santiago’s
retirement on October 5 will be in keeping with the mandate of the 1996 peace agreement, and
— if one were to listen to the clamor of the Muslim community for its immediate representation
in the High Tribunal.

It does not mean that appointing a Muslim means cases involving Muslims will be expeditiously
disposed of, and in their favor. Rather, a Muslim jurist indicates the government’s recognition of
the talent and skills of a member of the Muslim minority, acting, as he should, on all cases — no
matter the religious, racial, or ethnic minority of the litigants - raffled to him for decision.

There are 51 justices in 17 Court of Appeals divisions, and Abdulhawid is chair of the 14th
division. Judicial records show his expediency in resolving decisions. When he assumed office at
the CA on March 10, 2003, thrust into his hands were 350 cases submitted for decision, and 250
for completion. His personal data sheet shows that his output for the last five years has been
19.34 cases per month, 14.44 of them disposed by decision, and 4.90 cases by resolution. Added
to these are about 15 cases raffled to him every month. The number and percentage of cases he
disposed of in the past five years has been 1160 (with 866 cases disposed by decision and 294
cases by resolution). Of cases he disposed of, 98.2 per cent were affirmed, and only 1.8 per cent
was reversed by the Supreme Court. As of December 2008, his caseload was 17 cases.

These statistics clearly show the diligence and expediency with which he makes decisions, thus
reducing a backlog of cases in his sala. As we know, backlogs can take years to inclog by
justices and judges — in many cases the decisions come long after the litigants have passed
away. It’s comforting to know that there are jurists who move quickly, in effect erasing from the
public perception the idea of the wheels of justice in the Philippines moving ever so slowly.

Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeals, Abdulwahid was appointed judge, and later,
presiding judge, of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 12 of Zamboanga City, a regular court and
concurrently a designated special court for corporate cases. At the same time, he was pairing
judge of RTC, Branch 13, and a special court for drug cases. Earlier, because of lack of judges,
the Supreme Court assigned him as assisting judge of the RTC of Basilan Province and then, for
five years, as acting presiding judge of RTC of Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. Altogether, he has served
the judiciary for 20 years.

Hakim was born in Talisay, Sibutu, Tawi-Tawi on June 12, 1945. His early school records note
his diligence as a student. He graduated valedictorian at the Sibutu Central Elementary School
and salutatorian at the Zamboanga City High School. He obtained his bachelor of arts, major in
political science in 1967, and bachelor of laws, 1971, from the University of the Philippines as a
scholar of the then Commission on National Integration (CNI). He was admitted to the bar in
1972.

At present he is a professional lecturer on the Shari’a and Islamic jurisprudence at the Philippine
Judicial Academy. He was a Shari’a bar examiner, and law professor at the Western Mindanao
State University (WMSU) College of Law and Unibersidad de Zamboanga (formerly
Zamboanga Arturo Eustaquio Colleges). He served as clerk of court of the then Court of First
Instance of Zamboanga City; chief legal counsel of the Philippine Amanah Bank, later as
executive labor arbiter of the National Labor Relations Commission, and then regional
director of the Department of Labor and Employment, Region IX.

He is married to the former Naida Edding of Zamboanga del Norte, by whom he has four
daughters.