By Loy Palapos
The Bohol Sunday Post
Atty. Handel Tumulak Lagunay (HTL) is one exception to the pronouncement of Sycip. The value system he derived from home is a deterrent to any derogatory practice of his profession. He has been well prepared for the practice of his profession. He has been schooled in the best campuses, culminating at Silliman University. An orator-debater during his student days, he knows public speaking like the back of his right hand; just an indication that he follows the rules, and knows his role in connection with his clients. Never the braggart, which some Lawyers are sometimes observed to be, he cuts the picture of humility, compared to the loud foxes of the court, with there booming stentorian voices, and (a few times) fractured English.
A few years after passing the Bar, he had his private practice, until the City of Tagbilaran took him as its Legal Officer. Then, the Provincial Government made him the Provincial Attorney. He, thus, holds the distinction of being the only Boholano to hold both significant positions.
Atty. Handel Lagunay is never an intimidating presence. Soft-spoken and amiable in his manner, he can be anybody's friend; somebody you always wish well. This interview opens up in the interviewee some salient points in his personality in terms of his responsibility to the people of Bohol.
LMP: Was it your ambition to become a lawyer? What were your perceptions that augmented your desire to pursue such dream?
HTL: Ever since I was about 2 years old, my parents and my yaya, who was my mother's yaya before, never asked me if I wanted to become a lawyer. They just made declarations that I will become one when I grow up. My father, Baning Lagnay, is a lawyer. His law office is just right in our home. I grew up seeing him interviewing his clients, preparing for the cases, working long hours, and dressing up for the big court trials. It just came very natural for me that I would follow my father's footsteps.
LMP: What were the interventions in the pursuance of such ambition?
HTL:There were none. I guess it was just the thought of helping people solve their problems, my involvement in campus politics and the student publication, exposure with student activism and in the process getting to see the problems of our society, and my father's advocacies when he started government service in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in 1988 - all these contributed in cementing my desire to be a lawyer.
LMP: What did you do after passing the bar?
HTL: I joined my father's law office and started law practice right away. In fact, I was already working at his office while waiting for the bar exam results. I also taught at the University of Bohol College of Law and College of Commerce for a few years.
LMP: Will you state the circumstances which paved your way to become Tagbilaran City's Legal Officer?
HTL: Oh, I never considered joining public service. But I guess what brought me to where I am now started when I became the counsel of the Lakas-CMD party in Tagbilaran during the 1998 elections. After Mayor Joe Torralba won his second term, he invited me to become the City Legal Management Consultant in lieu of Atty. Romualdo Lumantao. When the position of City Legal Officer was finally created, I was the first to hold the position.
LMP: How about your transfer to the Bohol Provincial Capitol, until your present appointment?
HTL: The position of city legal officer is coterminous with the appointing authority. So, when Mayor Torralba ended his term on June 30, 2004, my term also ended. In August that year, I joined the Office of the Provincial Legal Officer when Gov. Erico Aumentado was into his second term. I started out as Legal Officer IV. When Atty. Tommy Abapo became the Provincial Administrator, Gov. Aumentado appointed me as Provincial Legal Officer.
LMP: Compare your jobs at the City Hall and the Capitol.
HTL: The legal issues besetting Capitol are more varied, complicated and far reaching compare to those when I was still in City Hall. This is natural because where before I only took care of legal problems of the city and its 15 barangays, now I have to attend to the concerns of 47 towns and more than a thousand barangays. Good thing that I have 9 lawyers at the Provincial Legal Office aside from the legal assistants and the research and support staff.
LMP: What are the common problems associated with your present position?
HTL: This question is difficult to answer. Let me see… well, there are instances the provincial government has to deal hard with some issues concerning local officials in the municipalities. At times, because of my position, it's my duty to deal with people having opposite or divergent positions of the Province's development agenda. However, I don't really look at these as problems but challenges.
LMP: Name the significant cases you handled since 2006. Indicate the present status of such case.
HTL: The Provincial Government's opposition to the water rates increase filed by BWUI. An intra-corporate complaint was already filed before the Regional Trial Court which also seeks to annul the decision of the National Water Resources Board granting the increase. The case is still pending with the motions for extension of time to file answer filed by the Office of the Solicitor General representing NWRB. There is also the Provincial Government's opposition to the transfer of PPUD's Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to the BLCI. This is still pending before the Energy Regulatory Commission.
LMP: Which of them would you consider crucial? Why?
HTL: Both are crucial because they directly affect our electric and water consumers.
LMP: How are you affected in cases where the Legislative Department is contradicted by the Executive.
HTL: This rarely happens in the Capitol because of the good working relationship between the Executive and Legislative departments. The provincial leadership regularly consults with each other including the 3 congressmen before major policies are implemented. But in the remote possibility a conflict will arise, there is always the rule of law to guide my actions.
LMP: Do you completely disregard politics in asserting the stand of your office?
HTL: Although as a coterminous official I am occupying a political position, I don't let politics get in the way to affect how I do my job. The primary consideration is always the law, and when the law is silent, the public good. For me, there are two kinds of politics. The good and the bad. Upholding what is right and just, even if sometimes it is unpopular, is good politics. No one can honestly say he can completely disregard politics--especially if this is the good kind-but it should not be the controlling factor in discharging the responsibilities of the office.
LMP: How do you assess the Provincial Governance without a Legal Office?
HTL: We are a government of laws and not of men. With the advent of local autonomy and devolution of certain State functions to the LGUs, having a legal officer is crucial in local government operations. In fact, it is a mandatory position for provinces and cities. Ordinances from component LGUs have to be reviewed by the higher Sanggunian and, as a matter of procedure, they are referred to the legal officer for study and recommendation. Contracts need to be examined or prepared, litigations arise, investigations are undertaken, and there are legal procedures to contend with. It is difficult to imagine how any provincial government could properly function without a legal office.
That Atty. Handel T. Lagunay is trustworthy can be gleaned by his upbringing, his simple lifestyle, the company he keeps, and the family he nourishes. His level-headedness strikes a discerning individual as a gift and talent, qualifying him as Mr. Cool. Nobody has heard him raise his voice, even in the most stressful moments; a real man in complete control of himself, even if others have gone ballistic.
Even in his political milieu, where insecurity is, at times, expressed in anger, he never loses his balanced groove. Definitely, this young Lawyer does not belong to the groups Mr. Sycip believes have made the country more lawless. Ask those who have worked with him, or those benefited by his counsels, and they will tell you there are still lawyers who can distinguish between what is legal and what is moral.
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Topic: One-on-One with Atty. Handel Lagunay, provincial legal officer (Read 3198 times)