Florin T. Hilbay | |
|---|---|
 Official Portrait | |
| Dean of the Siliman University College of Law | |
| Assumed office November 1, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Myles Nicholas Bejar |
| Solicitor General of the Philippines | |
| In office August 20, 2014 – June 30, 2016 | |
| President | Benigno Aquino III |
| Preceded by | Francis Jardeleza |
| Succeeded by | Jose Calida |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1974-03-19)March 19, 1974 (age 51) Tondo, Manila, Philippines |
| Political party | Independent (2021–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Aksyon Demokratiko (2018–2021) |
| Education | University of Santo Tomas (BA) University of the Philippines (LLB) Yale University (LLM) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Florin "Pilo" Ternal Hilbay[1] (born March 19, 1974)[2] is a Filipino lawyer who served as theSolicitor General of the Philippines from 2014 to 2016. He acted as the Philippine agent in the international case,Philippines v. China, which nullified all historical claims of China in relation to theSouth China Sea dispute.[3] He ranked first place in the 1999Philippine Bar Examination.
He is a member of the faculty of theUniversity of the Philippines College of Law since 2000, where he teaches Advanced Constitutional Litigation, Constitutional Law, and Philosophy of Law, with emphasis on issues relating to Church and State, post-colonial constitutionalism, and the relationship between the information environment and legal consciousness. He also taught Obligations & Contracts and Public Officers & Election Law.[4]
Hilbay was born inTondo, Manila to mother Lydia Hilbay, a former househelp and elementary graduate, and Rodrigo Hilbay, a messenger and high school graduate.[5] He finished his elementary education at theHoly Child Catholic School in Tondo, and his secondary education at theUniversity of Santo Tomas Education High school. He earned hisBachelor of Arts degree in Economics from theUniversity of Santo Tomas in 1995. He earned his law degree from theUniversity of the Philippines College of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1999, placing first in thebar examinations.[2] In 2005, Hilbay obtained his Masters of Law degree fromYale Law School.
He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar atBoston College in 2001. He has also held fellowships at theMax Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law inHeidelberg, Germany, and at the Asian Law Institute for Comparative Public Law in theNational University of Singapore, and inSilliman University.
Hilbay topped the 1999 bar examination with a score of 88.5%, sharing the first place distinction with Edwin Enrile ofAteneo de Manila University. That year, only 16% or 660 of the 3,978 examinees passed the bar.
When the results came out on the same day as his birthday in March 2000, Hilbay was then working as an underbar clerk to Supreme Court Justice Vicente Mendoza, a noted constitutionalist who was a former solicitor from 1971 to 1973 and assistant solicitor general from 1973 to 1980.[6]
Hilbay also previously joined theOffice of the Solicitor General of the Philippines as an associate solicitor under Solicitor GeneralSimeon V. Marcelo in 2002. He also served as the Director of the Institute of Government and Law Reform of theUniversity of the Philippines Law Center; a consultant to the Commission on Elections; and as the vice-chair of Bantay Katarungan (Sentinels of Justice), a civic organization formed by former SenatorJovito Salonga, purposefully created to advocate and strengthen the rule of law, to address issues of public injustice and to oversee the appointments process in the judiciary.[4]
He also served as the editor-in-chief of the Philippine Law and Society Review and an editor of the IBP Law Journal.[7]
Hilbay took over as acting Solicitor General on August 20, 2014,[8] replacingFrancis Jardeleza who was appointed as aSupreme Court Associate Justice. PresidentBenigno Aquino III formally appointed Hilbay as Solicitor General on June 16, 2015.[9]
As a senior state solicitor under Jardeleza, he defended the Reproductive Health Law before the Supreme Court in 2014. He was also the principal lawyer for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and the Bangsamoro.[10] He went on to become solicitor general.[11]
As solicitor general, he served as the Philippines' agent in the arbitration proceeding inPhilippines v. China filed with thePermanent Court of Arbitration in 2013. The court hearings began on July 7, 2015, and was ruled in favor of the Philippines on July 12, 2016. The court nullified all historical claims of China in theSouth China Sea via thenine-dash line.[3]
Hilbay started working as a constitutional law professor atUniversity of the Philippines after his term as Solicitor General in 2016. He has expressed his staunch dissent over thePhilippine Drug War, the extension of martial law inMindanao, the House attempts to re-impose thedeath penalty, and the position of the Duterte administration on issues concerningChina.[citation needed] He has been handling the case of detained senatorLeila de Lima since February 2018. Hilbay is also part ofSenator Antonio Trillanes’ legal team in opposing the government's nullification of the former soldier's amnesty.[12]
He now serves as Dean of theSilliman University College of Law where he also launched his book on bitcoin.[13][14][15]
In October 2018, Hilbay filed his senatorial candidacy for the2019 Philippine Senate election. He ran under the opposition coalition,Otso Diretso.[5] His platform focuses on the government budget, social services, and sovereign rights of the Philippines in theSouth China Sea andBenham Rise.[16] He was an official member and the official candidate ofAksyon Demokratiko, aprogressivepolitical party founded by senatorRaul Roco.[17] However, he lost and missed the top 12, placing 29th.
On October 18, 2021, Hilbay left Aksyon Demokratiko to support thepresidential campaign of Vice PresidentLeni Robredo.[18]
He authored a collection of essays entitled "Unplugging the Constitution" published and distributed by theUniversity of the Philippines Press in 2009. The book, written between 2004 and 2005 while he was in Yale,[19] tackled a wide range of issues. It discussed constitutional law, constitutional theory, philosophy of adjudication, legal hermeneutics, bar exams, the institution of marriage, psychological incapacity, liberal consciousness, and free speech.[20] His theory on the Tort of Constitutional Negligence has been applied in suits for damages against former PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo.[4]
