BENCHWARMER

Goodbye, Sir Brawner
Ramon S. Dacawi

Any lawyer who had appeared in his sala when elections Commissioner Romeo Brawner was presiding judge of the city and regional trial courts here will readily share vignettes reflective of his honor’s human side notwithstanding his strict adherence to and respect for the law.

The wealth of stories surged back without any coaxing, retold with fondness the moment news spread that Baguio-Benguet (which Brawner had served the most), Ifugao (where he traced his roots to Kiangan town) and Nueva Vizcaya (where he was born in Solano) had just lost one of their most illustrious sons.

Jose “Bubut” Olarte Jr., who hurdled the bar after spending time belting out Bob Dylan while the other wannabe A-T-T-Ys were sweating it out in review classes, once appeared as counsel for a defendant in an ejectment case involving Gingerbreadman, Baguio’s pioneer folkhouse. Building owner Remedios Cuesta felt dejected when she realized Bubut, whom she knew like her own children, was appearing as counsel for the other side.

He had to be, as Bubut worried where he and the other musicians would go if the folk den were closed. At the hearing Bubut tried to bide for time. He asked for a postponement of the hearing, saying he had to drive his dad to Manila for a pressing appointment. It takes one lawyer - in this case a judge - to know another. Judge Brawner asked the counsel the phone number of his father.

Ring him up, the judge ordered an aide. His Honor then took the receiver and talked to former city superintendent of schools Jose Olarte Sr. The elder Olarte validated the younger’s alibi. The judge handed back the receiver to the court aide and then reached for his gavel. Hearing postponed, he ruled.

During marathon hearings of the celebrated murder and attempted murder case filed by survivor Myrna Diones against some policemen, Judge Brawner saw young lawyer Peter Fianza. So as not to delay trial, His Honor appointed him bro bono counsel for the defendants should their lawyers from Manila fail to appear in any of the hearings. “Ni Peter piman ti naparigat idi trial,” the judge would later tell other people.

It takes an Ifugao to know another. Judge Brawner, then of the city court, had just stepped out of his chambers after handing down a verdict of guilty. He looked like he was looking for somebody. He motioned when he saw me on the city hall lobby. “Dagidiay kakailiam nga ipugaw idiay Asin Road.,” he began. “Natiliw da nga agsugsugal iti inipis. Minultak a isuda.” His voice sounded like he needed to tell someone of his decision, to lighten the load.

I told His Honor I found the sentence sound, as the guilt woodcarvers would easily recoup the fine by fashioning out saluting Indians and Igorot deer hunters, something they couldn’t do in jail. I caught sight of His Honor intensely listening when his wife, educator Leonora Fe (nee Saturnino) was delivering her speech on Baguio Day last year at the Baguio Convention Center.

She was making her response on behalf of her fellow awardees whom the city had just installed into the roster of Baguio’s Outstanding Citizens. I sidled up to him and ribbed him for being all eyes and ears for the speaker. “I had to listen because I made her speech,” the James Earl Jones look-alike retorted - before Mrs. Brawner was within earshot.

Ten years before, on the same day in the same venue, Mrs. Brawner joined her husband as he received the city’s Outstanding Citizen award for judicial excellence Last Monday afternoon, mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. asked city administrator Peter Fianza to open the Baguio Convention Center for the wake, so people coming to pay their respects will have elbow room and spacious parking space.

Fianza recalled how the Benguet Provincial Capitol was so cramped with mourners who came to bid goodbye to the late provincial prosecutor Felix Cabading. As in the necrological services for Prosecutor Cabading, those who came to pay tribute to Commissioner Brawner came from all walks.

They were drawn by their own fond memories of their encounters with such a gentle soul. He was one of them in the Baguio Walkers Club, the Knights of Columbus, the YMCA, the Dama Family, The Beetle (Volkswagen) Club, the academe, etc. Among them was his shoeshine boy who also fetched his newspapers whenever Commissioner Brawner, then a young practicing lawyer, stayed at the Mountain Lodging for his own court appearances in Bontoc.

He saw the boy again when he was assigned to oversee the last barangay elections in the Cordillera, when he met senior police officers in the region to finalize plans for peaceful and honest polls. “Your regional police chief used to shine my shoes and deliver me the daily paper whenever I was in Bontoc as a lawyer,” he told them. He was referring to police regional office director, Chief Supt.

Eugene Martin. Brawner begged off from a Cordillera assignment during the last local elections, as his nephew, returning Ifugao Gov. Teddy Baguilat Jr. was running again for the position. The commissioner opted to serve in Mindanao. Such uncompromising decency and delicadeza in public service apparently runs in the blood. On Ifugao Day this month during his first term, Gov. Baguilat announced before his constituents and visiting national officials: “My administration is
corruption-free.”
**
A message to my grandsons Lukie and Dylan: Hug your father Boogie on this Father’s Day. Your dad, unmindful of the stares of other travelers, held his father’s hand and never let go during an hour-long ride several years back. Your Dad said he read an advice somewhere for sons to grip their fathers’ hands before their old men are gone. When Lukie was born, Boogie texted he couldn’t explain his deep joy becoming a father. His father texted back: “That must have been the same feeling your dad had when you and your sister Beng were born.” (e-mail:rdacawi@yahoo.com for comments).