MANILA – Newly minted Southern Leyteño Lawyers have now taken their oath before the Justices of the Supreme Court (SC), witnessed by family and friends at the SM Mall of Asia Arena during the SC special en banc session held last May 2, 2022.
As part of the ceremony the St. Louis University Glee Club (of Baguio City) sang “Tatsulok”, reminding the new lawyers of a society of inequality wherein the rich are very few, but the poor are many, like the shape of a triangle.
In his message, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the chairperson of the unprecedented 2020-2021 Bar, repeated the song’s message: “Hanggang ngayon, tatsulok ang hugis ng ating lipunan. Ang nakakarami ay nasa ibaba. Dito natin makikita ang mga ginugutom, pinapalaboy, pinagsasamantalahan, pinahihirapan ng mga sistema ng ating lipunan.”
“Sila, higit sa iba, ang tinutukoy natin sa bawat bitaw natin sa mga katagang: Serve the People,” said Justice Leonen.
“Hindi lang mga lider, hindi lang mga pulitiko, at lalong hindi lang mga huwes ang magpapalaya sa atin. Sabihin sa nakararami: walang tunay na magpapalaya sa atin kung hindi tayo mismo.”
“The impossible only seems so until someone shows that it is possible. Tumaya kayo sa kinabukasan ng nakakarami,” Leonen ended.
Also noticeable during the event was a number of new lawyers expressing their political, personal and social beliefs.
Many were wearing pink ribbons and masks, while some were wearing rainbow colored sashes and formal outfits.
SC outgoing Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe in her speech commended the new lawyers.
“What you went through is unprecedented, for successfully hurdling the bar examinations during a global pandemic, and also facing head-on the various reforms in the bar, namely, the shift to a digital modality and to a multi-venue setup. Your batch is sui generis,” Justice Bernabe said.
“Looking at you now, I see not mere survivors. Instead, I see warriors and victors. With you, the cliché cannot be more true: the harder the battle, the sweeter the victor,” Bernabe said.
“Be life-long disciples of the law and embed the yearning for justice into the tapestry of your legal career. May you never forget that being a lawyer is not a position of entitlement or a privilege that makes you more important than others. Rather, it puts you in the position to work for the betterment of society,” Bernabe ended.
The recent bar exams penned by the SC as the “Best Bar Ever” produced the largest number of passers in Philippine history, as 8,241 or 72.8% of the 11,402 bar takers successfully hurdled what’s traditionally accepted in the country as the hardest licensure examination in the Philippines.
New So. Leyte Lawyers take oath
