New IBP president wants more benefits for lawyers

Lawyer Hidelito Pascual is hoping to address the concerns of fellow lawyers as he and other officers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ (IBP) Cebu City chapter yesterday took their oath of office at Casino Español de Cebu.

“Aside from the legal program and other usual activities of the IBP, I want to provide more services and benefits to our members,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Pascual formally assumed his post as  IBP Cebu City chapter president last April 1. He replaced lawyer Mae Elaine Bathan who served the lawyers’ group for two years.

Executive Justice Gabriel Ingles of the Court of Appeals Cebu Station administered the oath of the new officers.

Also present was Executive Judge Soliver Peras of the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City.

Aside from strengthening the IBP’s legal aid program, Pascual said he intends to assist the court in its development programs  and look into the welfare of  elderly lawyers.

Pascual, 67, is a management representative in the Central Visayas tripartite wage board and had worked for  20 years as an executive in the Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. in Toledo City.

He is a consultant of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, who is a relative, and writes a sports column for Cebu Daily News.

Pascual finished his law studies at the University of the Philippines. He worked with Atlas Mining for 20 years before he decided to go into private practice in 1993.

Pascual used to teach at the University of San Carlos-College of Law before he became the consultant of  Mayor  Cortes. He is president of his own HR consultancy firm Organizational Performance Associates Inc.

The other  elected  officers in the  IBP  Cebu City Chapter are Jose Glenn Capanas, vice president; Mark Anthony Gaviola, secretary; Michelle Geraldine Mendez-Palmares, treasurer; Regal Oliva, auditor; and Cjad Rodolfo Miel, public relations officer.

Elected directors for  IBP  Cebu City Chapter were lawyers Fillmore Gomos, Piedad Gonzalez, Christine Marie Naranjo, Anabelle Pulvera-Page and Leslie Ann Reyes.

Pascual said they will take another oath of office along with the other new lawyers before Supreme Court Associate Justice Jose Perez in June 2015.