High hopes for bar examinees

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers wishes good luck to the 7,227 bar examinees for 2017 as they hurdle the four Sundays of the examinations. They are four Sundays closer to achieving their dreams of becoming full-fledged lawyers.

Now more than ever, our society needs lawyers to defend the causes of the oppressed and downtrodden. May the spate of killings among the poor, the illegal arrests of innocent civilians and political dissenters and the forced evacuation of civilians and other human rights violations elsewhere in the country in the name of martial law, war on drugs and the government’s counterinsurgency program, inspire them to exert all their best efforts.

After the grueling examinations, we urge them to join the ranks of people’s lawyers and human rights defenders, when it is the best time for them to immerse with the many cases of human rights violations on the ground. Because the law profession can only be truly noble if dedicated to the struggle of the people.

Despite the lingering image, rightly or wrongly, of lawyers as mercenaries and opportunists consumed by material wealth, power or ambition, there are those who stand out and make a difference by being upright, competent and selfless. We are confident they know where they deserve to be.

We are waiting for them.

NATIONAL UNION OF PEOPLES’ LAWYERS, nupl2007@gmail.com