THE Lyceum-Northwestern University celebrated International Law Week 2022 last Thursday, September 22, 2022, with former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as guest of honor.

Chief Justice Sereno’s keynote focused on “Why Remembering Martial Law Helps Us Build Our Country” – and gave several examples of what Martial Law did to Philippine Institutions and Legal System, and allowed for military tribunals to take jurisdiction over civilians and many human rights violations to happen.

Sereno said she believes that Filipinos do not agree with extra judicial killings, torture or other human rights abuses.

“If only more people in government had courage, then the military could have refused to abduct and torture people simply because they criticized Marcos,” she said. .”Also, the Philippines would not have lost almost US$10 billion in ill-gotten wealth, of which only $4 billion has been recovered,” she added.

When a student asked Sereno to comment on Sen. Imee Marcos’ latest blog about “Moving On” Sereno said, “Hindi mo mabubura ang past. Forgiveness is meant to be for someone who is really repentant. Repentance for thieves means they must return what they stole, but that has not happened. Kailangan pang habulin,” quipped Sereno.

LNU president Dr. Luz Duque-Hammershaimb acknowledged participation of students and faculty of PanPacific University in Urdaneta City, PHINMA University of Pangasinan, University of Luzon, and others.

The Online celebration was attended by over 200 participants on Zoom, and 830 live viewers on Facebook.

“Today with the rest of the country, our university celebrates Law Week and Martial Law Week,” said Dr. Hammershaimb. She reminded the audience, “It is important and critical to continue to uphold the truth, so that we may learn from it. In so doing, we keep our democracy alive, vibrant and mature.”

To view the full lecture, check the livestreamed video at https://facebook.com/LNUCollegeOfLaw.

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