Lawyer Antonio Coronel is counsel to former AFP chief of staff Gen. Fabian Ver. He is counsel to delisted Col. Rolando Abadilla. He also represents defendant Franco Espartero in the murder of Rolando Olalia, defendant Ferdinand Diaz in the slaying of former Batangas Fiscal Felizardo Lota.

“But that doesn’t make me a loyalist,” said Coronel, noted criminal defense lawyer, if not the country’s foremost.

The statement was not an apology either it was made in anticipation of a query on a growing perception that he is “favorite counsel” of loyalists.

“Is that the perception?” he asked Tuesday night in his law office along Katipunan Avenue, which houses an impressive collection of law books as well as bestsellers and books of general interest. “But I have also represented Joe Burgos in the We Forum case, Nikki Coseteng before the Board of Election Canvassers,” he said to start off with names of clients not associated with the Marcoses.

“I am a criminal defense advocate,” said the 14-year dean of the Philippine Law School and regular lecturer of the UP Law Center.

“An advocate does not judge, he defends. The moment you start off inquiring into the question of innocence or guilt, you assume the role of a judge and that is certainly not conducive to criminal defense advocacy.”

Sparked into the subject, Coronel belted off a defense of his advocacy, and its rationale in a democracy that necessarily lists the right of all, including the guilty, to equal protection of the laws.

“Let the guilty be punished only after all the constitutional safeguards are observed,” said the Ilocos Sur-born lawyer who estimates that 99 percent of his criminal cases are for the defense. The remainder, which is naturally for the prosecution, has included the celebrated Lucila Lalu case in the late 1960s.

Coronel continued: “Innocence is a shield in itself. The innocent is already protected by a built-in factor, his innocence. The guilty does not have this protection. It is therefore the guilty who needs legal competence. My orientation is to presume my client to be innocent of the crime. Now, if in the course of time I find that my client is guilty, that does not deter me from pursuing my defense because he is entitled by law to protection.”

His career not only enriched him (despite the free cases his firm also accepts) but also Philippine jurisprudence as he obtained several precedent-setting decisions in the process. Among these decisions set the pre-suspension hearings for government officials charged with crimes. Arising from two simultaneous cases in 1968 (one against Jose Luciano, former mayor of Makati, and the other against Jose Oliveros, former mayor of Antipolo) the Supreme Court ruled that before government officials are suspended from office, there should be a hearing to determine the validity of the information filed against these officials to protect them from indiscriminate and malicious filing of charges.