Press Release - Sponsorship Speech of Sen. Joel Villanueva Proposed Senate Resolution No. 1009, taking into consideration PSR No. 1010, Expressing the Profound Sympathy of the Senate on the Death of Former Senator Rene Saguisag

Mr. President, my dear colleagues:

I rise today with great sorrow and grief, but also with gratitude, to honor the life and express the profound sympathy of this august chamber on the death of the Honorable Senator Rene Saguisag.

This representation is fortunate to have encountered Senator Saguisag in this lifetime. My advocacies were inspired by his work and his compassion for ordinary Filipino workers. Like Senator Saguisag, his son and our good friend Atty. Rebo, who is also the UAAP Executive Director, and I also share the same passion not just for public service but also basketball and sports development.

We thank his children for accepting our invitation to be with us today. We extend our sincere condolences to Atty. Rebo, Sir Nonoy, Ms. Lara, Sir Laurence, and Ms. Caissa, and to the entire family. The Senate of the Philippines and the entire nation are with you, as we mourn the loss of your father - an extraordinary public servant whose courage and commitment never wavered.

They say the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. I say, I have never seen anyone who fought as hard and as fiercely as (Tito) Sen. Rene in bending this proverbial arc to bring justice to the oppressed, the down-trodden, and the poor and disenfranchised Filipinos.

He is the gold standard in the legal community - an honest and good natured lawyer and human rights defender. He provided legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses during the Martial Law period. Sen. Rene was a prominent member of the Free Legal Assistance Group, founded in 1974 by distinguished Senators and legal luminaries, Jose W. Diokno and Lorenzo Tañada. They handled various cases against law enforcers accused of killing peasants, activists, and journalists. They would eventually start the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity, and Nationalism, Incorporated or MABINI, whose cases have led to landmark Supreme Court decisions. He was also generous with his time and talents as he helped shape the legal minds of young Filipinos through his work as a professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights Law at San Beda.

Sen. Saguisag lived a modest and principled life, from which the