Half of the Sem

Yes! I can breathe a bit now.  

The midterm exam weeks are finally done with a magnificently challenging brain-contorting closing exam on Criminal Procedure. It was all fun and blood having choices that seemingly looks perfectly the same and a question that is so unassuming that you can’t believe that this is all it. Nonetheless, this is law school – a life run by the reading of thick books and the finding relationships among different concepts of law and life all fuelled by that hope, that simple hope that someday – lawyering above its illusive “prestige” would be a powerful medium to make some difference in the world. This is the choice I made and on its 3^rd semester, things are getting a lot more interesting.

The freshmen are always a source of inspiration in Law School. I really don’t know why. Maybe due to some subconscious fulfilment of sorts but one thing is clear, I just feel inspired to relay what I learned and experienced to a fresh generation whose dreams of becoming a lawyer are taking gentle root.

Also the “event organizing project” also known as the Testimonial Dinner was finally done last July 28. This event has pretty much occupied my mind even before the start of the school year and finally its over. Tradition dictates that every sophomore batch should lead this yearly dinner and unfortunately for me, I am bound by duty to lead it though I can confidently declare that events organizing are the least of my talents. I have to do it and I hope it turned out ok. I am just so thankful for the dynamic team that made the event possible. Speaking about this, I do think that the yearly Testimonial Dinner is such powerful venue for what I can say as “inter-generational inspiration”. More than them thanking or bashing their law professors, their presence and their insights shared posses such powerful nuggets of inspiration for all of those who are still in the rugged journey. Their victory in the bar is our inspiration and challenge.

Now, I am looking forward for the next half of the semester with some sweet engagements in between. It is time to gear up also for the consolidation of efforts to produce the first Xavier Law Journal. This dream is bit by bit transforming into something tangible. Hope to drive more people to join. In XUCLA, I quite excited to apply some legal knowledge on property and land title and deeds on our case study on some land controversies in Dansolihon. Finally for LENTE, it would be a great thing to organize 2 orientation seminars to at least form a body of volunteers to gear up for the 2013 Elections.

Legal Education is undoubtedly very demanding - quite an understatement actually. However, I do not choose to be in survival mode. That would be so stressful and draining and would actually compel me to bring weapons in order to survive. I try to choose the engagement mode. I try all my best to balance application of laws in the social context and the academic study of the law. It is really getting interesting – and more importantly it is becoming more meaningful. I just hope that I can sustain things for the rest of my stay in this life churning school.

Search for a Sec. Jessie

I instantly asked why bad things happen to good people.

Faulty the logic of this notion maybe, this is the first that popped out of my head after I heard the breaking news about the plane crash involving DILG Sec Jessie and 2 other companions.  

I had the privilege of meeting this amazing public servant personally during the 2010 Election and had a surprising greeting from him on my 21^st birthday on my facebook wall (though I doubt if it was really him who wrote it) which made this confusing and difficult event more personal. Above from these unexpected specks of personal encounters with a powerful man, my personal admiration for him draws from his persona of simplicity. I see him, as mush of the public does, as the living testament that hey, there can be a local public servant who can make real and tangible the principles and ideals of good and progressive governance in the community level (his reforms instituted in Naga City when he was mayor). That is why I feel that his immense multi-sectoral search and rescue operation headed by no less than the President of the Republic shows he is too “matino” of a guy, too exceptional of a public servant to be lost forever. He can do so much more for this nation in his capacity as the Interior minister and we embrace all hope that he can still return.

I hope that whatever the outcome is, the massive search that has paused the nation becomes a torrent of search for a Sec. Jessie in our own localities and communities, a search for better local leaders whose character of simplicity stands intact. This is the kind that empowers and the search of Sec Jessie continues.