Why Magistrate Tapil loves to serve people

By JIMMY KALEBE
BEING in touch or rubbing shoulders with the elite and the famous in society is not really Pious Tapil’s favourite pastime, so to speak.
He rather prefers to be in touch with the ordinary people and more importantly, serve them.
“After graduating as a lawyer from UPNG in 1996, I was working as a legal officer which keeps me (in constant contact) with the top shots in the boards of those organisations.” So he became a magistrate to serve the people.
Since 2017, Senior Magistrate Pious Vartabar Tapil has been looking after the district courts in Lae, Wau, Bulolo and Finschhafen in Morobe.
He was born on Feb 2, 1972 at his Tavuiliu village in Central Gazelle, East New Britain. His mother was a nurse and father a teacher. He was the third eldest in a family of six.
He is married to Sussie Nalau. They have three children – a son and two daughters. They now have a grandchild.
He completed his primary school at Malaguna, before going on to the Vuvu High School where he completed Grade 10 in 1988.
He completed Grade 12 in the Aiyura National High School in 1990, before studying law at UPNG.
After graduating with a law degree, Tapil worked as an assistant officer to the Supreme Court. He also attended the National Legal Institute before being admitted to the bar. He was later appointed Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court.
“This gave me an opportunity to sit with the judges and get to know more about the field I am in. That aspired me to be one day become one of them.”

“ Despite the promising conditions I had as a boardroom lawyer, it was still not enough. I had to get to the bench and do something worthwhile for the people.”

He was employed as a legal officer with the Investment Promotion Authority from 2000 to 2003, before joining the National Capital District Commission as its principal legal officer from 2004 to 2007. It made him feel like “a boardroom lawyer”.
But he still wanted to join the bench.
“Despite the promising conditions I had as a boardroom lawyer, it was still not enough. I had to get to the bench and do something worthwhile for the people.”
Tapil applied to be a magistrate and was accepted. In 2008, Tapil was posted to Lae as a magistrate, then to Lihir in 2013. In 2016, Magistrate Tapil was posted to Yangoru in East Sepik and was serving in the Wewak and Maprik districts courts.
“One thing I see which created and enabled the environment I worked in anywhere I go is when the administration gave the level of assistance to make law and order a priority.”
His job meant that he had to, at times, leave his family behind.
When celebrating his 50th birthday on Feb 2, Tapil told his family, colleagues and friends that it is not the high-profile position he has which is important to him, but the opportunity to be close to the people and serve them.
His advice to public servants is to serve the people with loyalty, dignity and fairness always, whether serving in the urban or in remote rural areas.
Wife Sussie describes him as a champion family man and a loyal public servant who had served the people with dignity in the past 25 years.
Tapil also thanked his wife for their long life journey together so far.
“50 is just a number. We are privileged.”