Response of Atty. Carlos Medina Jr.

Fr Jett Villarin, President of the Ateneo de Manila University; members of the Board of Trustees; officials, faculty, staff of the Ateneo, my batchmates of Class 1980; fellow awardees, and guests, good afternoon.
I am here with my dad, my brothers, my sister, my son and my nurse. 

I would like to thank the Board of Trustees of the Ateneo de Manila University for granting me this award. I am now a person with disability. I am sick with what is called aneurism which happened 7 years ago. I cannot walk and eat without assistance. I also cannot see and speak well. But I am fully aware of how important this award is, and I am truly honored.

My journey towards this award actually started in 1966 when I became a student of the Ateneo de Davao grade school. With the guidance of my grade school teachers, I learned about the importance of caring for others.

My high school education, still at the Ateneo de Davao, taught me the value of service and leadership. Up to today I believe in servant leadership. I believe that leadership is meaningless if it does not translate to helping others.

My desire to be of service to others was strengthened by my faith when I joined the Ateneo Student Catholic Action, this time at the Ateneo de Manila University. Once a week,  I would go to urban poor communities to teach English and Math to school children. From my desire of helping these children, I realized there was a need for me. There is a need for people who want to help. 

In 1980,  I organized, together with Fr Jett Villarin, the socially oriented activities of the Ateneo Student Council. I believed that the council would be more effective if they reached out to the community outside school.

I set my sights on being a lawyer because I saw it as a concrete means to serve others. I gained my law degree also from the Ateneo. Upon passing the bar, my first job was as defense counsel at the Manila City Jail. My experience there taught me the importance of bringing justice closer to the poor. 

Then I joined the Ateneo Human Rights Center where I was director for around 30 years. I lawyered for the urban poor of Metro Manila and occasionally for the Senate of the Philippines. I also lawyered for poor farmers of Quezon and the marginalized Mangyans of Mindoro.

While at the Human rights Center, I established the Legal Network for Truthful Elections or LENTE. I saw the need to guard the ballot box because cheating was rampant. The LENTE team went to hotspots such as Basilan and Marawi to guard against fraudulent elections. In Marawi, I was almost killed by local politicians because I reported on the cheating that happened there.

You see, I have been with the Ateneo practically all my life. It was because of this school that I learned and lived out the values of paglilingkod sa sambayanan. I am proud to be Atenean. This is why this award is truly valuable to me.

I dedicate this award to my son Andres Paolo. My wish is that he will become a human rights lawyer like me, but I think he doesn’t want to be a poor lawyer like his dad. I think he wants to serve people in other ways.

If I get well, I would like to lawyer for PWDs and start a new type of lawyering. Many PWDs are invisible in the society and they need representation.

To all the human rights lawyers, I know our profession has become more difficult and dangerous to exercise in these trying times. To all who want to serve our country, let integrity, not riches or prestige, be what motivates you to serve.

To all human rights lawyers, to all volunteers of LENTE, and to all who believe in selfless service, may your tribes increase.

Thank you.