DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 03 December) – The lone survivor among the three Dabawenyo human rights lawyers arrested and detained by the Marcos dictatorship in 1985 has been named as the new Dean of the University of Mindanao’s College of Law.
Retired regional state prosecutor Antonio Biñas Arellano will assume the post effective January 1, 2023, succeeding Dean Jess Zachael B. Espejo.
Retired regional state prosecutor Antonio B. Arellano is the new Dean of the University of Mindanao’s College of Law. Photo from Arellano’s FB page
The 72-year old Arellano worked as Graft Investigation Officer II at the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao from July 1989 to February 1990. He spent 17 years at the Department of Justice, from 1998 to 2015, as regional state prosecutor in Northern Mindanao (1998 to 2004), Central Visayas (2004 to 2007) and Southern Mindanao (2007 to 2015).
From August 2016 to March 18, 2019, he was a member of the government peace panel negotiating with the National Democratic Front (NDF) and was a member of the Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution from January 24, 2018 to August 18, 2018.
Arellano obtained his Economics degree at the Xavier University and Law degree at the Ateneo de Davao University in 1976. He passed the bar in 1977 with a rating of 85.65%.
He was among the “Davao Three,” referring to three human rights lawyers in Davao City who were arrested in May 1985. The two others who were arrested were Laurente “Larry” Ilagan and Marcos “Boy” Risonar. Ilagan passed away in November 2001 and Risonar in June 2017.
Arellano taught law from 1978 to 2008 in the Ateneo de Davao College of Law, University of Mindanao College of Law, Ateneo de Cagayan College of Law, Liceo de Cagayan College of Law, University of San Carlos College of Law, University of San Jose-Recoletos School of Law, University of Cebu College of Law and South Western University College of Law.
He also taught at the Rizal Memorial Colleges School of Law and Jose Maria College of Law from 2020.
Arellano is a recipient of the Datu Bago Award in 2011, the highest award the City Government bestows on its constituents. He also received in the same year, the Magis Award, the highest distinction and honor that the College of Law of the Ateneo de Davao University Alumni Association confers to its outstanding alumni. (MindaNews)
