Institutional Messages
Susana Cabrera Yeto
It is my pleasure to introduce the CALESA project, funded by the European Commission through the Capacity Building Higher Education Program and coordinated by the University of Malaga.
In this motivating new project, in which 4 European and 5 Philippine institutions participate, it is envisioned the recovery of the special historic and legal bond existing between Spain and the Philippines and also that the Philippine law schools adopt curricular innovations in line with the Bologna process to facilitate portability with EU universities. The partners of CALESA consortium are so taking a step further in the creation and consolidation of international academic ties in the area of Law.
Juan José Hinojosa Torralvo,
The Faculty of Law of the University of Malaga celebrates the opportunity to lead the CALESA project. This is an initiative promoted from here to link Europe with the Philippines through Law and beyond, through Language, History and culture. CALESA is a project and therefore looks to the future. But its objectives are in the here and now and looking forward in which it will develop its activities. Its progress has had to be slowed down due to the pandemic derived from the coronavirus, but the reasons for carrying it out are so profound that it does not diminish any of the expectations placed on it.
I would like to expressly thank the universities of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila, San Agustin Ateneo de Zamboanga, Nova de Lisboa, University College Dublin and Deusto and the Judicial Academy of the Philippines, for their willingness to participate in the project and to make it their own with the same interest and enthusiasm with which it was born. It is also appropriate to thank the people who have worked individually to make it a reality. A great effort was required due to the initial uncertainty, but the success is a reward that is well spent.
But CALESA is not just an academic project, it is something more, much more. CALESA is a bridge of union of a brotherhood forged over the last eight years between universities in the Philippines and Spain, just as the calesas of Malaga communicate face to face with the people who ride on them. And, above all, CALESA is the brainchild of José Manuel de Torres Perea, professor of our Faculty of Malaga, who, beyond his personal commitment, has invested so much of his heart in it that it is no longer exclusively his own.
In Malaga, in the month of January 2021, full of hope
Gema Tomás
Dear colleagues of the CALESA Project,
On behalf of the academic community of Deusto Law School, I would like to express my deep gratitude for having being invited to join this forward-looking Project. CALESA is a platform of cooperation for the emergence of new ideas and new synergies to improve the capacities of universities of the Phillipines and universities of Europe. It is a common effort that opens a window of opportunity to test methodologies, materials and teaching abilities aimed at strengthening the way in which we traditionally teach Law.
Yours sincerely,
Mariana França Gouveia
We are delighted to join Calesa, a hallmark of the internationalization of NOVA School of Law, and fully committed to having our academic staff share their expertise with the European and Philippine partners in the project
Jose Mari Tirol
It was 500 years ago when two civilizations from opposite sides of the globe became aware of each other. This 2021 we commemorate this first contact between the West, through Iberians flying the Spanish flag, and the peoples and islands halfway around the world which were eventually named in honor of the Spanish King Philip II.
The interactions between both peoples now span a half-millennium, and these are as strong and as varied as the spices that spurred the voyage of Magellan and Elcano. They range from the personal and familial, to the professional and institutional, and to the political, economic, and legal.
While the Philippines adopted not a few laws and legal principles from Spain, their legislative histories did not always produce a similar result: the Philippine legal experience as articulated in its laws and jurisprudence has given these borrowed legal principles a local flavor. This is not surprising, for to quote Holmes, the life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.
The variations in the interpretation and implementation of these shared legal principles spur us to examine how and why these variations developed and were applied in both jurisdictions, and in Europe and ASEAN as well. We must develop a fuller understanding and appreciation of these principles, and produce a body of work that will be more in tune with the common needs and hopes of both peoples.
The best, if not the only way to do this is for Spanish and Filipino legal scholars to nurture and strengthen the historico-legal ties between their countries. The Capacity Building for Legal and Social Advancement in the Philippines (CALESA) Consortium spearheaded by the Universidad de Malaga is the perfect step in this direction.
The University of San Agustin was founded by Spanish Augustinian friars in Iloilo City, which was the last capital of the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines. The University is very pleased to be part of CALESA, which will provide its College of Law and its College of Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Education, with more opportunities to collaborate with their Spanish and European counterparts. Their exchanges and best practices will enable all member-institutions of CALESA to enrich the quality of education that they impart on their students, and the quality of their legal contributions to their respective communities.
In the short term, CALESA will improve the legal curricula of its member-institutions. In the medium and long terms, it will heighten as well as deepen their capacity to produce graduates who will become even more effective in providing equal access to justice to their fellowmen.
We look forward to CALESA, as well as to future partnerships and collaborations with our colleagues from Iberia.
Iloilo City, Philippines, January 13, 2021.
Jose Maria G. Hofileña
It is with great honor that the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law has been selected to take part in this laudable cross-border project, Capacity Building for Legal and Social Advancement in the Philippines (CALESA), conceived and pursued under a strong desire for cooperation amongst the several European and Philippine academic institutions.
In our unceasing quest to augment and enrich our current legal education curriculum as well as traditional modes of instruction and learning, the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law is delighted to have this singular opportunity to share resources, experiences, and best practices with the benefit of the guidance of CALESA’s European law school members as well as invaluable insights from our Philippine colleagues.
Indeed, we look forward to the discovery, learnings and growth that come from gaining new knowledge as much as the lasting camaraderie and friendship amongst us in the course of our working together towards common aspirations.
Imelda Maher
As Dean of UCD Sutherland School of Law I wish to send on my congratulations and welcome to all the members of Capacity Building for Legal and Social Advancement in the Philippines (CALESA).
The School is honoured that our two colleagues, Assoc Prof Richard Collins and Assoc Prof Marie-Luce Paris will be contributing to training in the areas of public international law, the law of the sea and human rights. We are delighted to work with the partners on this Erasmus+ Capacity Building project led by Professor Torres, University of Malaga, Spain.
I understand the key CALESA objective is that the Philippines’ leading law schools adopt curricular innovations that are focused on research, multilingualism, human rights and the rule of law, regional integration and comparative law in a manner that is consistent with the Bologna process in order to facilitate portability with EU universities. The Sutherland School, as a common law School of Law in the EU is committed to the transformative potential of law for society and welcomes this new initiative.
I wish the entire team every success as the project progresses.
Adolfo S. Azcuna
In December 2018, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, through the Philippine Judicial Academy, was invited to collaborate in the Capacity Building of Legal and Social Advancement in the Philippines or the CALESA Project aimed at the development of knowledge sharing and capacity building programs to be proposed to the ERASMUS Institute for funding and technical assistance.
As part of our commitment to this project, we initiated aresearch study on the comparative matrix of the Revised Penal Code, the Spanish Penal Code and the draft Code of Crimes (the proposed bill to amend the Revised Penal Code) which will be further developed in the coming months.
The project is highly relevant in the Philippines where it presents a great opportunity for reforms and revisions in the current Penal Code of the Philippines.
We look forward to working with the other partner institutions on this project and we remain committed in doing our part to ensure the success of this undertaking.
All the best.
Rosendo U. Castillo, Jr.
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University College of Law (AdZU-COL) welcomes with great pride and honor its selection as one of the partner institutions in the Capacity Building for Legal and Social Advancement in the Philippines (CALESA) Project, a European and Filipino multi Academic Institution collaborative undertaking.
AdZU-COL believes that more than an opportunity for all the partner institutions to enrich their respective educational, academic and social development pursuits, this project would provide for an avenue for all collaborating institutions to share their own culture which would help in a deeper understanding of the context and nuances that go into the study, practice and application of laws in their respective countries and hopefully provide shared insights for their future directions and undertakings.
In this fast-changing world which is driven by the rapid advancement of technology, it is AdZU-COL’s hope that this project would help prepare the collaborating institutions for the changes that will come in the future. The AdZU-COL looks forward to this partnership and believes that with this project, all collaborating institutions will be able grow into institutions that will meaningfully help in producing citizens who will live and work for God and country.