Reason to celebrate

The last time the University of the Philippines topped the bar exams was in 2005. So when the results of the latest exams came out, with UP getting not just the first but also the second, fourth, eighth and tenth places, the College of Law broke out in jubilation.

Wednesday night at a thanksgiving fellowship, the atmosphere was like a large family reunion. At least three former UP law deans were there, including Inquirer publisher Raul Pangalangan.

For the rest of the UP Diliman campus, the response was somewhat more muted, but a large tarp in front of the Oblation read: “UP’s Pride: 2013 Bar Topnotchers,” with the names of the new lawyers and, curiously, their grades in the exams.

I said “curiously” because UP, the College of Law in particular, has always argued that we are not oriented toward topping bar and licensing exams, and that our goal of academic excellence is producing good lawyers, doctors, engineers and all other kinds of professionals (psychologists coming up next, with the first licensing exams starting this year).

But like it or not, these licensing exams still figure prominently in public perceptions. When Ateneo de Manila University first opened its medical school seven years ago, I helped to interview applicants and most, not just many, of them said their parents had been reluctant about their applying to Ateneo, simply because the new school had not been “tested” by medical licensure exams. Now that Ateneo has produced two batches of graduates, with 100-percent passing rates, the number of applications has soared.

National university

I’m realizing, too, that there’s even more at stake for UP with each licensing exam. After these last bar results were released, I was getting congratulations as well, including from my tailor and an administrator at Club Filipino, both of whom are not UP alumni, and who simply knew me as a “UP prof.” In so many words, both explained that they were as proud because UP was, well, almost like “our university,” and therefore whatever achievements it has—measured now through licensing exams—are the entire nation’s.

People do watch what goes on at UP, and I know media people have a kind of love-hate relationship with us, celebrating with us on occasions like this bar top-notching, as well as waiting for less fortuitous events to do some UP-bashing.

UP is, after all, mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 to be the (and not a) national university, an honor on one hand but also, on the other hand, a great burden for faculty and students because we are always expected to excel, to lead.

And excel we will, but I want to be sure the public doesn’t think of UP only in terms of cold nerdy geniuses. That thanksgiving night, I was most moved by how human, not superhuman, the topnotchers were.

When Cyril G. Arnesto, the tenth placer, was called at the awarding ceremony (no car, as had been rumored, just a certificate), the emcee, Prof. Ma. Gisella Dizon-Reyes, also called his wife, who is with the college, to join us. And I thought of what all the bar examinees’ spouses, partners and significant others must have endured during the review period.

Michael Tiu, the eighth placer, told me that he did his prelaw as a political science major in my College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, and that about a fifth of his class were also CSSP alumni. It reminded me that so many of our CSSP alumni do go on to becoming successful lawyers, then donate back… to the College of Law.  (Hint, hint.)

Eden Catherine Mopia, the fourth placer, talked about life in “Malcolm Hell” (Malcolm Hall is the name of the College of Law’s main building), and went on to praise all the faculty for being tough and firm. Most touching, she asked for a few moments of silence for one of their deceased classmates, Jill Maureen Hernandez. Remembering her was a way of saying, “Jill, you passed the bar, too.”

Mark Xavier D. Oyales, who came in second, did his prelaw at UP Tacloban. His short speech brought the house down, with quotes from the Torah (“tzedek, tzedek tirdof” or “justice, justice you shall pursue”), the geometry of unpredictability, life and bar exams, and the personal struggles we all have, figuratively proclaimed through Rome and Carthage. “Yun lang (That’s all),” he would quip before going into another soliloquy, and indeed, I’d like to think our victory at the bar is “yun lang.”

Then we had Nielson G. Pangan, the No. 1, the most unassuming person imaginable. His speech was profuse with thanks—to the faculty, to his classmates, and to the “Bar Operations Commission.”

Hard work

After the ceremony, I asked law dean Danilo Concepcion (Danicon to thousands of listeners of the program “Campanilla” on dzMM) what this Bar Operations Commission was. He explained that these were law students organized to support bar reviewers. Support sounded almost like an understatement, as the dean explained what was involved: Whatever the reviewers needed, from books to summaries of important legal cases to venues for review, they would get from the Bar Ops group, with total support from the college in terms of access to photocopiers, rooms, etc.

This victory at the bar, then, came about from planning, from the many new policies at the College of Law, and, pure and simple, from hard work. From the dean’s, and students’ descriptions, the UP law school is moving from tough to tougher, and for good reason: UP owes the nation when it comes to producing the best lawyers.

Before leaving the celebration, I got to talk briefly with Nielson Pangan. I had read that he acquired his prelaw degree from the Iglesia ni Cristo’s New Era College, and that he is teaching there now. New Era has been very low-profile, providing good education, its doors open to non-INC members.

I asked Nielson if he was a member of the INC, and he said yes. And his plans? He will serve the INC, in New Era’s law school.

On my way home, my family driver was bubbling with excitement from talking with the other drivers. He had recognized Rep. Roman Romulo (who graduated from the UP College of Law) and wife Shalani Soledad. My driver knew what the celebration was about, and he repeated what I had been hearing so often in the last two days: “Galing talaga ng UP” (UP excels). He asked if the topnotchers got cars as rewards, and I said, No, we don’t do that at UP. Then he remarked that these topnotchers would surely get all kinds of offers from big corporations.

I paused and thought about Nielson, and had a gut feeling that whether he teaches at New Era or joins a corporation, he will do us—UP, the INC, the nation—proud.

Our new lawyers have just raised the bar, and not just for bar exams.

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