I quite expected the assignment.
When our formation officer announced that I was assigned to the Governance and Leadership Institute, I was extremely delighted. This field of science is something that I personally desire to engage myself in. My experiences in college being a student leader and a social advocate on certain issues made a more solid grounding in my desire to engage governance and leadership. The name of the institute itself strikes a chord within that moves me to excitement. So I did confidently say after I heard where my assignment was that this is my first step to deepen my outward engagement on the management of power and development.
The initial task that was given to us was more on research work on legal doctrines and public administration studies. Confined in the office and facing a computer screen, I tried to connect how this research would eventually translate into something concrete. It eventually dawned on me that all these research output helps the institute consolidate its knowledge bank and aid in the development of its seminars and modules. Considering that hopefully in the future as a lawyer, most of my time should be devoted to legal research and this made me appreciate my initial task. Well, this was just the first week. The second week was full of learning.
As I see it, the meat of my internship was my engagements with the Local Government Units through the seminars the institute conducts. I was able to participate in 2 seminars on Barangay governance and local legislation. It was a tremendously rich experience learning both technical and legal dimensions and also meeting these community leaders. In the duration of the seminars, a thought kept on running in my mind. I would always wonder how these people define and see political power and influence. I never really got an answer because I never bothered to actually ask them. I just hypothesized that these people must have quite a unique definition of such because they are immersed in the front lines, the first layer of our government structure. They see the people face to face and deal with them at their level. They are the closest to the people. Their definition might be shaped by the faces of personal friends affected by disasters and how government addresses such situation. It might be defined how a local curfew helped mitigate crimes in a vicinity close to their homes. Whatever their definition is, I am well aware that it is formed by an intimate relationship between those who govern and those who are governed where results or consequences are felt personally and immediately.
Flowing from that thought, a macro understanding of local governance can bring about a rich collection of legal precepts and constitutional doctrines. My experience with GLI brought to life the bias of our Constitution towards local autonomy. More than that, my experience provided me a feasible answer to one of the almost cliché but serious questions of every Filipino: With such a rich country, why are we still poor? Progressive and solid Institutions are key to our national development and the most basic of it is our local institutions of political governance. GLI as a manifestation of the thrust of the university towards governance engagement has provided enrichment courses for local government officials and also provides long term technical assistance for LGUs.
Such a grand picture of law and politics but what does this mean to me personally. As a young citizen, it means that for local government to effectively work, they should also partner with an effective citizenry. And in return, that citizenry should also enlighten itself so it can delegate its sovereign power to qualified and honest individuals. The call now is local engagement and this has so much meaning now for what we have collectively experienced during Sendong where we saw how our local government allegedly crumbled in the midst of a vast disaster. Local government matters so much to our daily lives and so much more in times of crisis. Acknowledging how vital it is, it is imperative that as a schooled person, it is my personal obligation and duty to engage our leaders in all means that I can. From lobbying in the city council to advocating issues online, the options are limitless. And as a law student, my elementary knowledge of the law holds a respectable amount of influence that can be used to advance causes. I think this is an important position a law student should understand. Our idealism coupled with our legal knowledge can bear good fruits if properly placed in the right causes. Our opinions matter and they are given attention. If properly positioned, we can very well contribute to a passage of a cause. The success of government ultimately lies in the audacity and veracity of the people it governs.
Seeing all these dynamics of politics, power, and the law, my study in the college of law has elevated into a higher more meaningful level. I can now begin to see the image of what am I studying for. I know ultimately the answer does not only satisfy itself from my personal ambition derived from the prestige of being a lawyer. Ultimately, I am confronted with a moral question of whom am I studying for, whom am I practicing law for? This intersection between my desire to be lawyer and the greater need of my community should produce a commitment in my part to not settle for transactional lawyering but go to the frontiers by using the law as a tool to bring earthly justice into the lives of those who most need it. This is a lofty journey filled with all kinds of temptations and Law school is not even the beginning of it. However I am convinced that this initiation to the cause has deepened my commitment for justice and development and has provided me more than personal ambition to pursue my law studies with excellence.
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