A maritime lawyer by profession, sometimes called Frog Prince of the Philippines with currently more than a thousand of collectible frog items. Like the frogs with a reputation for leaping that is well deserved, jump with me to my froglandia as we travel and explore the world seeking symbols of divine powers of love, fertility, regeneration, rebirth, immortality, and transformation.
"The crowning glory of this law school that it has kindled in many hearts an inextinguishable fire. a great law school sets lawyers’ hearts on fire. And not just any fire, but an inextinguishable fire. An unquenchable fire. You become a kind of eternal torch for law and justice, as it were.” thus pronounced Vice President Jejomar Binay.
The country’s premiere law school, the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law,capped the celebrations of its 100th year with the much-awaited Grand Centennial Homecoming at the PICC Reception Hall on Nov. 11, 2011. The Class of 1986, this year’s silver jubilarian class, hosted the event.
Atty. Gilbert and Judge Jing Nolasco with Dean Danny Concepcion
Martin Lacdao
Good friend Honey oliveros
Judge Jing Nolasco as muse
Earlier this year, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III declared 2011 as the “University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law Centennial Year.” In line with that, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has released commemorative P100 bills with the UP College of Law’s logo in it.
The "most frequent" question i received that night was "Anong Batch ka?". My immediate response was "Motion to Clarify: (a) year i took the entrance exam (b) year i entered UPLAW (c) year graduated and took the bar exams. The answer (a) i took the exam in 91 but have to defer due to deficiency Spanish units so my supposed original batch is 95. (b) I entered in 1992 section C making 1996 as my ideal graduation year but i took a leave and returned as an "international student" by joining the evening working class (c) 1998 when i officially finished my LLB and took the bar exam. I am lucky that I was able to pass the during my first attempt. And I proved something to myself that I could do something that is really hard to accomplish. I finished law at UP College of Law in Diliman as a working student. I write for TODAY as one of their regular reporter covering a wide range of topics such as environment, human rights, politics, peace process, agriculture, agrarian reform and many more. I was also a correspondent for international news agencies like Reuters, AFP, AP, UPI etc. The income i derived from these news entities i utilized to finance my law studies. Take note: my daily schedule is writing in the morning and the afternoon before going to UP to attend my classes in the evening. Then I go home where I read the assignments for the following day during the almost two hours trip of the bus going to Las Pinas. In between my work and classes, I still go hiking with my friends called the Squakings.
Perhaps what made my stay in UP Law as memorable was when in August23, 1997 i was kidnapped after our Moot Court. This experience i wrote in my piece "Face to Face with Crime" “SIGE, tumakbo ka na ng mabilis at huwag kang lilingon at baka barilin pa kita (Run, Run fast and don’t turn back or I’ll shoot you).” The words could be apart of a movie script, but these were in fact words of my abductors . To me, words of freedom.
The challenge remains on how to keep UP the great law school as it was envisioned in Justice Holme's immortal words engraved at the institution's Malcolm Hall lobby:
THE BUSINESS OF A LAW SCHOOL IS NOT SUFFICIENTLY DESCRIBED WHEN YOU MERELY SAY THAT IT IS TO TEACH LAW OR TO MAKE LAWYERS IT IS TO TEACH LAW IN THE GRAND MANNER, AND TO MAKE GREAT LAWYERS.
The College first conferred the Juris Doctor (J.D.) on its April 2008 graduates, after a change in degree title was approved by the U.P. administration the previous year. Like the majority of law schools in the country, U.P. used to provide the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), a standard four-year law program covering all subjects in the bar exams, until the change to J.D. was made in order to more accurately reflect the U.P. law program being a "professional as well as a post baccalaureate degree.
The college is noted for having produced the largest number of bar topnotchers and maintaining one of the highest bar passing rates among law schools in the Philippines
Proof of 100 years of excellence: Four Philippine Presidents , four vice presidents, Five senate presidents, five speakers of the House, twelve Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, forty-six (46) bar topnotchers/ In the Philippine Bar's recorded history, the highest grade first recorded was the 92% garnered in 1913 by Manuel A. Roxas of the UP College of Law.
"Magaling ka sa essay, pero hindi masyado sa multiple choice. No worries people, in practice it's never simply "multiple choice." This a shoutout which caught my attention from the "You Know You Are From UP Law If..." group in response to the fact that no UP Law takers landed in the top ten of the 2011 Bar exams.
For the November 2011 Bar Examinations, the Supreme Court said A total of 1,913 or 31.95 % out of the 5,987 examinees who completed taking the 2011 Bar Examinations passed the first predominant multiple choice question-type tests in the Bar’s 110-year history. Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez, Chief of the SC Public Information Office said the number is the “second highest rate" The topnotchers of the 2011 Bar exams are
1. ATADERO, RAOUL ANGELO D. [ATENEO DE MLA] 85.536%
2. BOLONG, LUZ DANIELLE O. [ATENEO DE MLA] 84.556%
3. RAFAL-ROBLE, CHERRY LIEZ O. [ ARELLANO UNIVERSITY] 84.455%
4. BANAGA, ROSEMIL R. [NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY] 84.122%
5. GONZALES, CHRISTIAN LOUIE C. [UNIVERSITY OF STO. TOMAS] 84.093%
6. BANDAL, IVAN M. [SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY] 84.090%
7. ACOSTA, EIREENE XINA M. [SAN BEDA COLLEGE] 84.066%
8. QUA, IRENE MARIE P. [ATENEO DE MLA] 84.057%
9. LACEDA, ELAINE MARIE G. [FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY - DLSU] 84.040%
10. AQUINO, RODOLFO Q. [SAN BEDA COLLEGE] 83.727%
The examinations were held in the 4 Sundays of November at the University of Sto. Tomas. With the introduction of MCQ (multiple choice questions), which cover 60% of the exams. The examinees took the following subjects during the examinations:
First day: Political and International Law, and Labor and Social Legislation and Taxation
Second day: Civil Law and Mercantile Law
Third day: Remedial Law, and Legal Ethics and Forms and Criminal Law
Fourth day: Trial Memorandum and Legal Opinion.
Associate Justice Roberto Abad is the Chairman of the 2011 Bar Exams. The Supreme Court stated that the MCQ exams should be able to assess the following skills: knowledge and recall; comprehension and understanding; and analysis and application.
Some of the reactions from UP Law Alumni include the following:
- The Second Great Debacle of the UP College of Law. The first one was in 1984 where none made it to the top 10 either - the same batch that produced Justice Sereno and Popo Lotilla, if am not mistaken. Crunch time for the incoming batches....
- In fairness to Class 2010, this should not be labelled as a disaster. Their batch (first timers) had a passing rate of 93%. Overall passing rate for UP was 89% (see Cynthia Laureta's separate post). There were years when UP's passing rate dipped to the 70s.
- We always have this chill attitude about the Bar. Sour graping isn't our bag of chips. Congratulations to the schools that produced the topnotchers! Pero next time, kami naman. :)
-sa mga nag-co-comment sa akin na walang UP law sa top ang sagot ko ay, "hindi kami sanay sa ganyang exam na memorization lang" :)
- nonetheless let us not rest on our laurels and instead look upon this as a clarion call for our college and its alumni to all contribute to assure the ocuntry that the best law school in the Philippines still produces great lawyers as they still teach law in the grand manner!
The 2010 exams at the De La Salle University in Taft Avenue, Manila were marred by a bomb blast that hurt 24 people on the final day. The exams were previously held on four Sundays of September. For 2011, the schedule has been moved to November at at the University of Sto. Tomas.
The first Bar exams were held in 1901, with only 13 examinees
Bar topnotchers are bar examinees who garnered the highest bar exam grades in a particular year. Every year, the Supreme Court releases the bar top ten list. The list contains the names of bar examinees who obtained the ten highest grades. It is possible for more than ten examinees to place in the top ten because numerical ties in the computation of grades usually occur.
From 1913 to 2012, schools which have produced bar topnotchers (1st placers) are as follows:
In the Philippine Bar's recorded history, the highest grade first recorded was the 92% garnered in 1913 by Manuel A. Roxas of the UP College of Law. The lowest grade was obtained by Ateneo Law School's Mercedita L. Ona, 83.55% in 2008,
In my blog posting "Notes on the Bar Exams, i said that taking the bar exams is an experience that will help a person grow but one that I do not want to undergo again. The discipline in terms of time management and patience is crucial during the review period. The barrister should be able to devise his own schedule to suit his study habits.
I am lucky that I was able to pass the exam during my first attempt. And I proved something to myself that I could do something that is really hard to accomplish. I finished law at UP College of Law in Diliman as a working student. I write for TODAY as one of their regular reporter covering a wide range of topics such as environment, human rights, politics, peace process, agriculture, agrarian reform and many more. Take note: my daily schedule is writing in the morning and the afternoon before going to UP to attend my classes in the evening. Then I go home where I read the assignments for the following day during the almost two hours trip of the bus going to Las Pinas. In between my work and classes, I still go hiking with my friends called the Squakings.
There is what we call as “karma” that prompts each law student to participate in the annual Bar-ops. He must at least help in one way or another in the bar-ops so that when it is his turn to take the bar, he will expect that there will be somebody, particularly those in the lower years, who will also help him. Karma points could be earned by assisting the barrister in his needs such as digests, reviewers, permits from the Supreme Court and other technicalities that would consume some of his precious time .
Former UP Law Dean Marvic Leonen said his Facebook status on the 2010 Bar results: " For all UP Law Bar Candidates: Congratulations to those of you who passed. Celebrate but with humility and gratitude. For those who did not make it: relax, take stock, accept your losses and grieve if you must. Know that your failures are also mine. But all of you should remember that the bar is not a measure of you. Recover immediately from you glories and your failures. We will support you in all your endeavors."
The challenge remains on how to keep UP the great law school as it was envisioned in Justice Holme's immortal words engraved at the institution's Malcolm Hall lobby:
THE BUSINESS OF A LAW SCHOOL IS NOT SUFFICIENTLY DESCRIBED WHEN YOU MERELY SAY THAT IT IS TO TEACH LAW OR TO MAKE LAWYERS IT IS TO TEACH LAW IN THE GRAND MANNER, AND TO MAKE GREAT LAWYERS.
Below is a listing of all 98 first-placers (from 1913 to 2010) ranked from highest to lowest in terms of rating obtained. It should be noted however that bar ratings are not exactly comparable from year-to-year as the difficulty of the exams varies through the years.
