IBP launches Edgardo J. Angara wing

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) inaugurated yesterday its building's new wing named after Sen. Edgardo J. Angara for his "outstanding legal and leadership service in the bar."

The inauguration of the Edgardo J. Angara Wing also coincided with that of the IBP's Jose B.L. Reyes Hall in honor of the late Associate Justice Jose B.L. Reyes.

"What he greatly thought, he nobly did," lawyer Jose Vicente Salazar, outgoing IBP national president, said of Angara.

Salazar said that majority of the IBP governors and members adopted two months ago a resolution to put up the Angara Wing. He said that the wing and the Jose B.L.Reyes Hall are now part of the IBP building in honor of their "individual and shared commitment in serving as the guideposts and landmarks in our profession."

"Deeds, not stones, are the real monuments of the great," Salazar said of Justice Reyes.

In his response, Angara said that the new wing and hall are not simply new divisions of the IBP building.

"They serve as spirit and symbol of the rule of law practice and perception of law today," he maintained.

He noted that the IBP was weak before and its building in Quezon Boulevard was old and decrepit, a far cry from the present site among high-rise buildings in the thriving business center of Ortigas.

Angara, as executive vice president of the IBP in 1977, was instrumental in getting the lot from Don Paquito Ortigas and in securing a loan for the building from the Social Security System.

"We are firm, vigorous and able to impart legal knowledge and new opportunities in the bar practice," Angara said.

Angara, who served as the IBP President in 1979, also cited Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion, along with Justice JBL Reyes, for giving the IBP its social conscience through the legal aid program.

"They are the ones worth emulating because they built up the legal aid program of IBP, and they did it at the time when people were very cautious and fearful of legal matters," Angara said.

He expressed confidence that the IBP would continue to be the primary institution that will elevate standards of the legal profession, improve the administration of justice and enable the Bar to be more effective in public responsibility.

Angara was honored by the IBP with a lifetime achievement award two years ago. He serves as an active volunteer in the IBP Alumni Association and the UP Law Alumni Association, two other large law organizations in the country.