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OPINION Filtered By: Opinion

COMMENTARY: Justice Florenz Regalado

Published July 28, 2015 10:26pm

By RENE SAGUISAG

Justice  Florenz  Regalado, 87, is gone.

He set t he bar exam record of 96.7, followed by classmate and compadre Bobby de la
Fuente,  with 95.95, in 1954.    

Flor's record may stand until the desert sands grow cold.

There will be a funeral Mass at 9:00 am on Friday, July 31, in the Mendiola Abbey Church
where his remains will be brought Thursday a ernoon.
 
I played hookey in early 1955, as a Rizal Hi senior. In Quiapo, Eddie Sanchez, our would-be
valedictorian, saw the results of the 1954 bar blared by the a ernoon papers. He was curious
about how his brother, Bobbit, had fared.

Bobbit, who I got Prez Cory to name as Labor Minister, was our first MABINI Chair (her orig
choice had to be replaced cuz, per the urban legend, she said, "I cannot proceed with your
appointment, sorry." "Why po, ma'm?" "I learned you have 57 children." "Ma'm, 43 lang po,"
including one who would be a good Bedan lawyer in 1972.)

Bobbit got only 9 1. 2. Flor, Bobby and Bobbit comprised three reasons I attended San Beda,
the grace of a Compassionate Providence.
 
Last we talked a decade or so ago, Flor  again told me his answer to a bar criminal law
question on estafa was miscorrected and that eventually, he got the Justice-Examiner to
concede his point. For crying out loud.
 
I tell my studes, "you get 96.71%,  and detect a seeming miscorrection, take it, let go, not to
grouse anymore."

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Flor told me his boyish hope and dream was to be an elevator operator. He had been named
a er Florenz Ziegfield, the famed Broadway impresario.  

Bobby I asked in 1986 if I could recommend  him to Prez Cory as a Supreme Court Justice. He
declined (as I did in January 1987 when handed a signed SC appointment I had not sought).
Flor was busy as a ConCom Delegate in 1986 ; I suggested his elevation to the SC in 1988 and
was successful, to the nation's everlasting benefit.

On September 29, 1967, Flor lost in the Supreme Court, unanimously. He moved to
reconsider. On December 29, 1967 he won, unanimously, in Tactaquin v. Palileo. In 1967, the
SC worked between Christmas and New Year. Last Dec. 22 all our courts closed, not to
reopen until January 5, 2015.  Vol. 21 of SCRA carried the two rulings and covered September
to December. Now, a SCRA volume may have only four days of confusing opinions. The two
Tactaquin rulings comprised seven pages.
 
As law juniors, we made bulakbol to attend our December 8 Immaculate Conception fiesta in
Pasig. He gave all of us five's, save Jess Regalado Cornago, his nephew, who he graded with
two five's.

He could be just, to a fault.  

He who is merely just, is severe?  Poor Jess.

'Bye Justice. Thank you.

Atty. Rene Saguisag is a former senator who authored RA 6713, The Code of Conduct and
Ethical Standards for Government O icials and Employees.

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