Posts tagged with UP Law

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March 15, 2010

A career in law?

A few days ago, I submitted the initial set of requirements for my entry into another law school. It’s been more than half a year since I got dismissed from UP Law. I really don’t want to give law up. I don’t really mind repeating the classes I’ve taken during my freshman year. In fact, I want to take them again in order to refresh myself and relearn the lessons I’ve taken.

Today, as it has always been, I still do not want to become a career lawyer, a lawyer working overtime with law firms in some office, defending random clients. That kind of lifestyle doesn’t appeal to me at all, notwithstanding the benefits or compensation. I want to study the law and be a lawyer so that I can promote and defend what I do as an activist, and do it better, from researching and drafting resolutions and bills in Congress to taking part in campaigns to protect and promote the rights of people. I want to study the law to make sure that the people I work with, the people I serve, and the people I care for and love will not be taken advantage of. Sure, I can read and study law books here and there without having to go through with the formality of attending school and passing the bar, but I have to recognize the fact that the social status of being a lawyer commands respect. It’s a kind of authority to challenge authority.

Yes, I’ve also thought about having to earn a living and provide for my family in the future. But I can set up a small shop take on a few “rakets” anyway. All I need is to support a simple family lifestyle. The idea of using law as a primary source of income is not appealing to me, too.

A few days ago, a group of disgruntled and desperate parents of University of the East students went to the headquarters of Kabataan Partylist. They have been calling our office almost every day the past weeks narrating their despair with regard to their children being maltreated in the school’s apparently abusive CAT training, among many other complaints. They have coursed their concerns to many politicians and government officials but they were not being given the attention they needed. I was talking to them about the kinds of campaigns we can mount in order to put a stop to the abuses, among other things. But then I also realized that it has to be complemented with legal action, of which I couldn’t properly advice them on. These kinds of situations reinforce my desire to study the law.

I apologize for not being able to update my blog the past month. Most of the tasks I have been assigned the past months for Kabataan Partylist is to speak and keep in touch with like-minded politicians and youth candidates from all over the country from different persuasions and political parties, forging formal and tactical alliances with a common agenda of change. One of these days we will launch an alliance of young men and women running for office this elections, united in upholding new politics from the youth for the people.

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December 4, 2009

Still their blockmate

Our household hosted a baby shower for two of my blockmates last week. I appreciate that my blockmates decided to hold the get-together at my place, despite having been out of UP Law for months, I’m technically not their blockmate anymore. Apparently, my blockmates haven’t been seeing each other as much as we did in our freshman year because of the recently-implemented de-blocking scheme.

Hearing from my blockmates news and stories about recent happenings in Malcolm Hall made me think that it was probably good for me that I got out of law school early. It appears as if the law school’s administration, obsessed with regaining from its rival law schools the top ranking in bar exam passing rates, has been on a stringent mission to cut off the bottom-ranking students or simply, students they feel like will not pass the bar. I, myself, failed two subjects in my freshman year and that it, I’m out, no questions asked. I heard some senior students were kicked out recently for a failing mark they got during the previous semester compounded with grades they incurred during their freshman year. Senior students apparently have lost their immunity from dismissal.

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September 8, 2009

Weekend notes 09/07/09

I spent almost the entire day last Sunday sleeping. Due to several unexpected circumstances, I was barely able to sleep the day before.

I started my Saturday early, reading through some materials for a bill I was drafting for Kabataan Partylist. Spent the afternoon at Kabab Korner along Matalino St. with Airah, my co-officer in the legislative staff. It was the first time I spent the afternoon at the place, and it turned out to be a pretty decent experience as there was barely anyone else around and there was free wifi access. I was able to finish the first draft of the bill by the end of the afternoon. The bill, by the way, is a magna carta of sorts for workers in the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry, who are mostly call center agents. Hopefully, we will be able to file it within this week, or the next. Read the privilege speech of Rep. Mong Palatino on the plight of call center agents and other BPO workers, for more information.

This weekend also marked the start of the bar exam season. Last Saturday night I went to Manila to pass by the bar operations (bar ops) of my fraternity and of UP Law. I was supposed to leave by midnight, but I ended up doing some legwork the entire night till that morning. Stationed at the Century Park hotel, every hour or so, I was running up and down, in an around the hotel getting tips from sources and slipping copies of the tips under the door of our barristers’ rooms. I didn’t expect myself to be doing this after three years in the frat, but all’s well in frat work. In between, I was able to lounge at one of the rooms we were able to reserve. Also one of my consolations was that I was able to get one of the breakfast buffet stubs which I abused Sunday morning before retiring and going home.

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September 4, 2009

Random notes 09/04/09

BATASAN STUFF
A couple of nights ago, Rep. Mong Palatino took me to the congressmen’s lounge beside session hall, to sample some of the food. It is exclusive to members of the House but I think they’re allowed to bring one or two of their staff or family once in a while. It was free, limitless, hotel-like food for congressmen every session day. Apparently, Mong said he hasn’t seen any same dish served twice for the entire month. No wonder many of the congressmen get fat in Congress, literally, and figuratively too. That night, it was Chinese-themed food. I don’t think Congress has a concept of simple living, which is a shame in a poor country like the Philippines. Iba talaga when one has the “power of the purse.”

Speaking of Congress’ “power of the purse,” I briefly attended the first hearing of Congress for the government’s P 1.541 trillion budget for next year. The hearing was very well-attended by the congressmen, their staff and employees of the Budget and the Finance departments. I could barely find a comfortable place, not even to sit, but to stand. It’s that packed. Iba talaga pag pera na ang pag-uusapan.

TAMBAY SA OSPITAL
A few days ago, some of my fraternity batchmates and I brought another batchmate of ours to the hospital due to his chronic seizures because of his multiple sclerosis. He had five attacks that day, and the UP Health Service urged us to move him to a bigger health facility because all they could provide were valium shots. It was the first time I saw someone having a serious seizure, and it was quite scary. Since his parents were in the province and his relatives couldn’t come as soon as possible, we stayed at the hospital the rest of the afternoon, some of us till later that evening.

MEETING BOY ABUNDA
In between staying at the hospital, I went to a meeting with some ABS-CBN staff together with Boy Abunda, to talk about his new political talk show. I don’t know why I’m part of it. I got a call a few days earlier inviting me to join in, and well, I agreed. Though I’m having second thoughts now. True, I may be opinionated, I write and I blog, but I don’t do a lot of talking, really. Details to follow, as I don’t think I’m at liberty to disclose any more information about it.

CLEARING OUT OF U.P.
I’m currently processing my papers for my honorable dismissal from UP Law. I passed by Malcolm Hall yesterday, after not being there for weeks now. It didn’t feel nice being in a place you were forced to leave all of a sudden. Unfortunately, I’ll have to keep coming back the next few days to finish the process, get a transcript and other papers to be able to take tests in other law schools.

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August 9, 2009

Hanging on in the meantime

Last Saturday, I still took my midterm exams in Insurance. The previous night, I struggled to muster enough enthusiasm to review. At the back of my mind played the thought that staying up that late and re-reading piles of cases was worthless, because at the end of the day, it wouldn’t matter if I pass or if I get a high score in the exam because I won’t be able to enroll next semester anyway. However, I’ve decided to just go on. I will try to attend classes in the coming days while I await the final advice form the UP Law administration, in the rare and slim chance that I get through by some miracle–without being too hopeful, of course. Sure, it may be a waste of time and energy if what’s supposed to happen is inevitable. I just try to think of it as a way for me to take advantage of my last days in Malcolm Hall, and perhaps, for the pure desire to learn, regardless of the fact that I won’t earn any academic credit for it.

In between reviewing for the exam, I was also hopping over next-door for my undergraduate college organization‘s anniversary night, being held at the restaurant beside the coffee shop I was hanging out at. It was great seeing my contemporaries again, and catching up on their careers. Most of them are in media companies, for obvious reasons. As for myself, I told them I’m still in law school, though I left out the part where I was supposed to say I’m struggling to stay in law. It wasn’t a time to dampen the mood of people.

Last night I also went to another party, it was Inter-B, the inter-batch party of UP Law’s block B’s. The sophomores, that’s our batch, organized the event. Since I’m about to be out of the college soon anyway, I might as well attend the last inter-batch party I can attend as a student. I will miss my blockmates. They’ve been so supportive all along, ever since we all started out last year.

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August 6, 2009

Past academic shortcomings continue to haunt me

Just when I wrote about trying to start anew by chronicling my experiences in UP Law, my academic shortcomings last year come back to haunt me. I felt very distressed this afternoon after an unfortunate re-test of one of my freshman subjects. No matter how much I try to recover from my past mistakes or to reform from my, admittedly, poor performance last year by being much more diligent with my studies this year, they will continue to haunt me. There’s no use regretting to have taken up a lot of extra-curriculars last year and not offering my jealous devotion to law. My renewed enthusiasm in studying may well be for naught. I don’t know what to do now. To quit, I may, to transfer I might consider, but for now if it’s not meant to be, I shall take the break and surrender to my unfortunate academic fate.

I apologize to everyone I might be disappointing. I am thankful to those who understand. Admittedly, I felt terribly upset a while ago. All’s well now. But that’s probably it. Goodbye.

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August 5, 2009

I shall write more about my law school experience

I shall start to attempt writing down chronicles of my stay in law school. Perhaps it can be a way for me to totally imbibe the law school routine. Sometimes I feel like the reason why I don’t blog much about my experiences in law school is that I feel like everything is just some negligible routine which I don’t bother remembering for posterity. Up until now, I still don’t feel like I totally want to become a lawyer. I just struggle my way in the College of Law one day at a time, without fixating on the finish line or the thought of graduating too much. It’s difficult enough to think about getting by each week, after all. But that’s not right. I’m on my second year, and there’s no turning back.

Anyway, certainly there are things you don’t appreciate till they’re gone. This won’t be another Cory Aquino-related blog entry, though. (God bless her soul as the nation escorts her to her final resting place today). Yesterday the entire air-conditioning system of the College was down. It was like some inconvenient server crash. Some people know how much I sweat, often more than others. Needless to say, I was sweating profusely in my two classes. To make things worse, I got called for recitation and I was largely unprepared. And even more unfortunately, it was one of those sessions when I was the only one who was called to recite during the entire two-hour lecture. It was just one of those days. I got by, nonetheless, with lucky guesses and my classmates’ “radio coaching”.

In another matter, I’ve recently discovered the convenience of studying at Malcolm Hall’s student lounge. For the longest time since my freshman days, I always went to the library or to some coffee shop outside school to study during long breaks or after class. There seemed to be no other choice if I didn’t want to go home yet. However, the past weeks, since I lost my ID and the guard has blacklisted me from the library, I was forced to find an alternative academic hang-out, where I don’t have to buy anything. And then there was the student lounge at the ground floor. I always thought it was an exclusive tambayan for some law school cliques. Not quite, really. It was a homey, air-conditioned lounge complete with couches and other fixtures. Pretty neat.

Wow. This entry sounds quite mundane! Well, it’s a start. Hopefully if I get the hang of this, I shall write about some (academic) lessons learned, too, not only so that I could share them with everyone, but so I could recall them more easily, perhaps, (because I would be forced to digest legal doctrines and cases, unless you want me to write lengthily about them).

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July 23, 2009

Law Students Against Cha-Cha

We, law students from UP, UST, Lyceum, San Beda, PUP, Arellano, and San Sebastian, united by common ideals, do strongly voice out our opposition to charter change.

As students of the law, we recognize the supremacy of the Constitution, the highest law of the land. On it hinges the legality or illegality of all other laws.

We also recognize that it is actually us, the people of the Philippines, who are the true authors of the Constitution, and as such, any move to amend or revise the Constitution should respect the will of the people of the Philippines.

We agree that the law only authorizes three methods of changing the charter, and that it is the intent of the framers of the Constitution that any amendments or revisions must still be ratified by the citizens, thus giving to the citizens a very important role in shaping the highest law of the land.

We generally have nothing against charter change, since it is provided for in the Constitution itself. What we are against is the suspect timing of such a move, which we believe is motivated by the political agenda of those involved, especially the ones who vehemently push for the approval of a Constituent Assembly.

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June 21, 2009

Age of Consent

On the issue of the UP Student Code and national issue of the Constituent Assembly

It was modern thinking that placed a high premium on Consent as a foundation of law. Consent has a transformative moral power, but it has its own pitfall: it can transform a wrongful action into a rightful one. If Manny Pacquiao had knocked down Ricky Hatton outside of the ring, he would have been prosecuted for serious physical injuries.

Still, this philosophy stems from the core belief that all men are reasonable, and that Reason will then lead us all to a single, unassailable conclusion. This legal theory, stridently discussed in Malcolm Hall, is relentlessly tested in practice. We note two particular instances: in proposals for a new code for student discipline in Diliman, and for a constituent assembly to change the Charter.

When the UP administration moved for the codification of student rules sometime in 2005, students were only allowed piecemeal participation. In a university where 80% of students are older than 18 years ““ the age of consent ““ the lack of active and inclusive student participation is suspect. The drafting of the Code undermines the basic right of students to be consulted, represented, and decide in the formulation of policies that affect their rights and welfare.

UMAKSYON last year joined 100 other student organizations, in submitting to the Board of Regents an 18-point demand “reclaiming the rights of student organizations in the University of the Philippines”. The document specifically demanded student council control over two properties; softer rules on organization and assembly; and secure student representation or participation in important campus activities.

In contrast, the draft Diliman Student Code emphasizes that the use of university facilities and the use of a tambayan is a grant, a privilege. It also offered stricter guidelines on student organizations, and barely promised solutions to staffing and appointment issues of student publications and representatives. What the draft code puts forward is a simpler procedure for discipline cases.

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June 17, 2009

Academic woes get worse

I’ve been quite distraught the past days over my academic standing in Law. I’m in the brink of being kicked out because of my grades. Kicked out temporarily, at least. Since I was already on probation during the second semester of my freshman year, I am not allowed to get any more failing marks, but after enrollment two weeks ago, our Criminal Law 2 grades came out and unfortunately, I got my first 5.0 ever. That should effectively dismiss me from UP Law. The anomaly and the confusion, however, is that I’ve already enrolled before the grade came out and that classes have already started, and I’ve signed my class cards and all the first-day shiz. Another thing is that the cause of my probationary status last semester, a 4.0 in Persons & Family Relations, is still unresolved. Now I don’t know if my enrollment is voided, if I can remain enrolled conditionally pending the resolution of my unremoved 4.0, or what? I still have to talk with our College Secretary to clarify my status and negotiate something.

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