MANILA, Philippines — The student council of the Ateneo de Manila University Law School on Thursday said that Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano “fell short” of the ethical leadership expected of him as an alumnus.
Its statement came a few days after Cayetano’s batchmates sent a similar statement regarding his role in last week’s Senate standoff that saw his colleague and ally, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, escape from the chamber, to evade the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
“When our alumni serve in public office, their conduct inevitably reflects upon the values their alma mater claims to uphold. Consequently, when Atenean lawyers appear to defend impunity or undermine the great mechanisms of accountability, it behooves the Ateneo community to express our disappointment,” the law student council said.
“In this light, the Ateneo Law Student Council believes that Senator Alan Cayetano fell short of the ethical leadership expected of him as an Atenean. His actions disappoint those students who look to alumni of this institution for examples of principled leadership. Furthermore, his commitment to impunity is a mockery of the Ignatian values that we were all taught to hold dear to the core of our hearts,” they added.
Just like his law school classmates, the current generation of Ateneo student leaders called on the Senate President to reflect on his actions.
“We call on Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, an alumnus, to reflect on whether the conduct now being defended in the Senate is truly worthy of the principles of Truth (Veritas), Integrity (Integritas), and Justice (Justitia) that Ateneo Law stands for,” they said.
The law students also called on dela Rosa to “cease his evasion of international legal processes and to submit himself fully to the lawful mechanisms designed to address the allegations against him”.
“We call on the Philippine Senate to honor its constitutional mandate, to resist the temptation of institutional solidarity at the expense of institutional integrity, and to refuse to become a sanctuary against accountability,” they said.
“The rule of law is not self-enforcing. It depends on institutions that take it seriously, on lawyers who live it, and on communities who demand it. The Ateneo Law School Student Council exists within that chain of responsibility. We are not naive about the limits of a student statement. But we are equally clear about the cost of silence. To say nothing in a moment like this is itself a choice, and not one we are willing to make,” they added.
Sen. Loren Legarda also came under fire from her alma mater, Assuption College, following the events that transpired in the Senate last week. The school took down Legarda's photo from among its outstanding alumnae.