It’s definitely a giant leap from being the City Legal Officer of Davao City in 2001 to become the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel of the President of the Philippines in 2021. It took 20 long years and countless other public positions in between before Atty. Jesus Melchor Vega Quitain was appointed to his current post. Becoming the foremost resident lawyer of President Duterte in Malacañang is a distinct honor accorded only to one who does not only know the law but most importantly the President who is his principal client.
Counseling the President is a role that is not strange to Atty. Quitain. In 2001, then Mayor Digong who had just reclaimed his old mayoral seat in Davao City after serving as the representative of his home district for one term, appointed Atty. Boy, the affectionate name given to him by his friends and contemporaries, as the City Legal Officer. Thus, their relationship as counsel and client started decades ago. Atty. Boy replaced Atty. Salvador Panelo who is running for senator. No two lawyers who succeeded each other over the same position have more contrasting qualities and styles. Atty. Sal is imperious and flamboyant while Atty. Boy is modest and unobtrusive. One is outspoken, if not loud, while the other is soft-spoken and restrained. But no one will doubt that both are very effective and able lawyers in their own way. They have served the President well, which the latter deeply appreciates. Atty. Sal also doubled as the President’s spokesperson before Secretary Harry Roque was appointed to the post.
Atty. Jesus Melchor “Boy” Vega Quitain has gone a long way since he graduated with honors from the San Beda College of Law in 1970. Four years earlier, he earned his pre-law degree at the University of the Philippines where he became a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi Fraternity. He decided to study in San Beda College to pursue his law degree. His transfer from Diliman to Mendiola in 1966 was providential. Attending the same school a couple of years later was another famous Davaoeno, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who also aspired to become a lawyer. Duterte’s father, Vicente Duterte, served as the Governor of the undivided province of Davao from 1959 to 1965 and later served as a member of President Ferdinand Marcos’s cabinet until his death in 1968. While Atty. Boy was President Digong’s senior, it was inevitable that they would be drawn to each other being townmates sharing a common aspiration. As a law student, Atty. Boy excelled in his studies, a fact which did not escape the future president’s attention. He received a Dean’s award when he got his diploma from the San Beda College of Law.
After hurdling the bar examination, the new barrister immediately plunged into law practice in his native province of Davao. He had a successful law practice and gained the respect of his peers in the profession and the community. He was tapped to serve as the law dean of the Mindanao University. He was well loved by the university and its law students during his stint that after his active academic life he was conferred the title “Dean Emeritus” which he still holds up to now. On the other hand, his friend and schoolmate, President Digong, joined the government in Davao City as a prosecutor where he stayed for many years until he was appointed as Vice Mayor of Davao City by President Cory Aquino after the Edsa revolution. The President challenged the incumbent mayor, Zafiro Respicio, and was elected mayor of Davao City in 1988. In his 4th term as mayor, President Digong finally convinced Atty. Boy to join him at the City Hall as its Chief Legal Officer. Then he was appointed as the City Administrator to further help Mayor Duterte run the largest city in the world with a total land area of 244,000 hectares. He was also named resident Ombudsman of Davao City for which he was awarded as the Outstanding Resident Ombudsman of the Philippines for 2008. He was chosen as the first National President of the Association of Resident Ombudsman in Government Agencies. He also forayed into politics and served as a city councilor. His Alma Mater, San Beda, had given Atty. Boy the recognition as Outstanding Alumnus in the field of education.
The President brought Atty. Boy to Malacanang as undersecretary at the Office of the President. He did trouble-shooting for the President and held office close to his President Digong so that he would be at his beck and call. He is reputed to have ghost written for the President, particularly the President’s SONAs, the most important speech that our chief executive annually delivers before the joint session of Congress. But I’m sure Atty. Boy would deny this. In this capacity, he had done what Adrian Cristobal, Blas Ople or Teddy Boy Locsin and the other presidential ghosts of the bygone eras had invaluably contributed to the presidents they served. Ghost writing for the president is a very critical function. The ghost should know the president’s thoughts and be able to place himself in the shoes of his principal. He should be gifted with the flair of a great storyteller and the erudition of a scholar attuned with the past and contemporary events. As another famous ghost, the irreverent but esteemed Vergel Santos has once said, a ghostwriter “should be able to take in the best character of his client… to read his mind but also to protect him from himself. He should be able to put credible words in his mouth, words that don’t exceed his grasp or capacity for articulation.” His role is to amplify or embellish the president’s ideas and present them in a manner that will be appreciated by our country’s officialdom and the people in the street. But the ghost can always inject his own which the president may accept and incorporate them in the speech of the president. A foremost writer, Luis Teodoro, who by his own admission had ghosted for senators and university presidents had wondered, “how much public policy is being made by ghost-writers endowed with the power to put words into state programs in the mouth of decision-makers.” Writing for his beloved President is a craft that Atty. Boy has mastered. After serving the President for decades, Atty. Boy is not clueless about the issues close to President Digong’s heart and fully knows his sentiments on any given subject. He could write well because he has been there with him in good times, and bad. In a manner of speaking, Atty. Boy is the keeper of the flame that he deservedly earned out of unquestionable fealty to the President. In this regard, he is the ideal alter ego of the President. He does his job without aplomb and claims no credit for the success of his work. He is truly a ghost—unseen, unheard and unsung. We need more of him in the government.
Today, let’s all take a moment to celebrate Atty. Boy Quitain’s achievements. My former colleague at the SSS, Commissioner Annie Quitain, and their two children, Dr. Grace Ann W. Pecson, a successful hematologist and oncologist and Atty. Jesus Melchor, Jr., a respected practicing lawyer and currently a city councilor of Davao City, all idolize him. No question, Atty. Boy Quitain is a good family man, a great lawyer and an outstanding Filipino.