‘He had a big heart,’ says De Lima about former Comelec chair Brillantes

With the passing of former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair Sixto Brillantes, Jr., the country’s election law practice will never be the same again, opposition Senator Leila de Lima said.

De Lima made the statement as she paid tribute to the former head of the poll body who passed away early this week due to COVID-19. The senator used to be an election lawyer like Brillantes.

“More than my mentor in my early years of election law practice, Chair Brillantes whom I and others fondly call SS, was a dear friend. He stood by me in my ordeal. I could feel not only his compassion but also his pain over what was done to me,” De Lima said.

De Lima said Brillantes encouraged her during a mass when she celebrated her birthday in detention at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame.

“Unforgettable for me was this line he uttered in a sharing during a Mass in one of my birthdays here in detention: ‘Huwag kang mag-alala Leila. Relax lang. May araw din sila’!”

But more than his unparalleled expertise in the field of election law practice and his stature as the country’s top election lawyer, De Lima said “SS had a big heart.”

“His down-to-earth nature, and authentic language and actuations had endeared him to many, including his competitors in the field and his subordinates at the Comelec,” she said.

“The very small world of election law practice in the country would never be the same again, without SS,” added De Lima.

She said Brillantes would always be known to his many clients, co-workers, colleagues in the legal profession, schoolmates in the Bedan community for “his sharp wit and remarkable sense of humor” that were simply disarming.

“Ferocious tussles with him during hearings or oral arguments at the Comelec en banc session hall would not diminish one’s respect and admiration for the man. He was impossible to hate. Quite the contrary,” she said.