Dispatch from Crame No. 1093:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the Carpio-Hilbay-Jardeleza Exchange

7/9/21

I view with concern the exchange of views between former Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, and former Solicitor General and Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza, not because it hangs out for the public to see contentious positions debated among them in the country's WPS legal struggle against China.

I am concerned because lost amidst this belated tit-for-tat is the fact that they all contributed to achieve what is probably the Philippines' greatest victory against foreign intruders since the Battle of Mactan. The three may not be muscle-and-sinew warriors in the classic sense of Lapu-lapu, but they are legal warriors indeed, and each individual's courage in fighting for the interest of this country cannot be denied.

I hold all three of them in high esteem and respect.

Gentlemen, instead of this belated expression of difference in opinions and accounts made irrelevant by our singular and historic victory in the case against China, you should all just take a bow for the great service you have given selflessly to a grateful nation. PNoy could not thank all of you enough. We all could not thank all of you enough.

More than our individual contributions, our collective effort delivered a great victory for this country, regardless of the way each of us saw how it was achieved.

A win is a win! ###

(Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 1903, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no_1093)