The Law Forum - June 2018

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LAW FORUM The Official Publication of the San Sebastian College of Law

2018 No. 001 June 2018 issue

NEWLY APPOINTED DEPARTMENT HEADS Know more about them!

SSC-R LAW BAR OPERATIONS 2017 Event recap

Special Feature: SSC-R LAW WELCOMES ITS NEWLY APPOINTED DEAN, J.BRION

CONTRIBUTORS Catherine Joy Esteves Krizza Lei Amoyan Christine Marie Crisostomo Hannah Suzanne Gil Layout Editor: Mark Adrian Arellano

TABLE OF CONTENTS St. Augustine Building

Photo by: Mark Adrian P. Arellano

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SSC-R WELCOMES THE NEW DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF LAW

SEBASTIAN COLLEGE OF LAW 04 SAN HOLDS SALUTE TO THE DEAN AND LAW FRESHMEN ORIENTATION

By: Krizza Lei Amoyan

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MEET THE SAN SEBASTIAN COLLEGE OF LAW’S NEW DEPARTMENT HEADS

ETHICS EXCERPTS: 13 LEGAL Expectations from Lawyers By: J. Art. D. Brion (ret.)

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LEAP OF THE STAG: A SALUTE TO THE FEARLESS SSC-R Law Centralized Bar Operations 2017 By: Catherine Joy Esteves

SSC-R WELCOMES THE NEW DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF Special Feature LAW rom the halls of the Supreme Court, former Associate Justice Arturo Brion has joined the SSC-R College of Law as its Dean.

He brings with him the goal of excellence that has marked his career as a lawyer. Everyone salutes his dreams and aspirations for the College of Law.

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Dean Brion’s field of expertise is Labor Law, having served as the Executive Director of the Institute of Labor and Manpower Studies under the Philippine Ministry of Labor; as the Vice-Chair of the Labor and Employment Committee and a member of the Committee on Revision of Laws and Constitutional Amendments at the Philippine National Assembly; as Deputy Minister of Labor for Legal and Legislative Affairs and later, as Undersecretary and Secretary of Labor. In the academe, our new Dean has previously shared his knowledge with students at the University of the Philippines’ 2

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School of Labor and Industrial Relations, at the Far Eastern University Institute of Law, and at his Alma Mater, Ateneo de Manila Law School where he graduated cum laude and class valedictorian.

“We face a lot of challenges,” he uttered, upon his entry as the new dean of the College, and assures students that he shall exert all efforts to improve the College in its duty and mission of helping them become lawyers. Since his arrival, he has touched many aspects of College of Law life, from the enrolment processes, to the releasing of grades. His administrative standards have been efficiency, transparency, and uniformity for the convenience of everyone. In the field of teaching itself, he has departmentalized the College of Law, is encouraging the updating of the teaching facJUNE 2018

ulty’s syllabi with the end of coming up with departmental syllabi, and would like to exert efforts towards the academic improvement even of the members of the faculty.

Among the many programs and changes he aims to advance, its his special focus on the graduating class and the Bar candidates. He is currently busy in his efforts to

resolve the senior students’ academic concerns to ensure they are resolved at the earliest possible time. He wants a very smooth deliberative process preparatory to graduation for the convenience of everyone. “Students records,” he said, “should be the least of the concerns of students who should now be focused on their review and preparation for their coming Bar exams.”

Ranking 1st in the 1974 Bar Examinations, he envisions similar results for SSCR graduates. “I want the SSCR College of Law to be at par with the best”, he quoted. “The Bar and nothing but the Bar” is the mantra he has recited to the seniors and the Bar reviewees.

is to secure the best teachers and mentors for them. “Input is equal to output,” he has noted. “We are not exactly after the knowledge of all the details of the law,” he added, “our aim should be to teach students how to think the way lawyers should”. He is very happy with the competence and zeal the faculty has demonstrated, but still hopes to upgrade their talents through a very active “faculty development program.” To walk his talk of upgrading the law faculty, he has recruited, among others, the likes of Atty. Victor Alimurung, a Harvard Law graduate; Atty.

Ramon Esguerra, a seasoned remedial and criminal expert and reviewer; and Mr. Julio Amador from the Department of Foreign Affairs to teach Special Problems in International Law. There are many more new faces, some old and seasoned in law, while others are the new ones who will man the teaching ramparts in the COL’s future days.

be pro-active in helping develop students’ potentials. To professionalize the handling of his own office, he has recommended, and the Board of Trustees has approved, the creation of the College Secretary position to undertake full-time work in COL administration. The school is right now in the process of recruiting for this position.

Our new dean leaves us with a message to “bear with him and be patient with the adjustments now in process.”

He adds, “change is never easy but the efforts, in the end, will be worthwhile for all. This is how the Stag leaps and surmounts the seemingly insurmountable.”

Bravo Baste!

On the curriculum, he plans to focus on Bar-related electives as they will go a long way in the Bar candidates exam preparation. He aims to offer a wide range of electives, from the first Bar exam subject of Political Law, to Legal He expects his adminEthics, the last subject in the istration to be a bit strictfour weeks of Bar exams. er than in the past and thus appeals to students to bear

The Dean also sees the with the inconvenience of the faculty as the center of the needed change to enhance school’s efforts in sending the credibility and quality of qualified examinees to the the SSCR College of Law. He Bar exams. His formula of aims to reach out to student molding the best law students organizations, in particular to

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SAN SEBASTIAN COLLEGE OF LAW HOLDS SALUTE TO THE DEAN AND LAW FRESHMEN ORIENTATION

BY KRIZZA LEI AMOYAN

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Salute to the new Dean of the San Sebastian College of Law, retired Supreme Court Justice Arturo D. Brion, was held last 10 July 2017 at the Bar Review Center. The event coincided with the annual Law Freshmen Orientation.

The program began with the celebration of the Holy Mass presided by Rev. Fr. Gideon Antolin U. Lagrimas, OAR, Vice-President for Religious Affairs, and Head of the Campus Ministry Office, together with the other religious administrators.

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Rev. Fr. Emetrio D. BuĂąao, OAR, Vice-President for Administration, and HRDC Director, highlighted in his message the values of Sebastinian lawyers which must be instilled among the new Sebastinian law students. He further discussed the Mission and Vision of the school and provided the students orientation on Sebastinian traditions.

The Religious Administrators, Lay Administrators, and the College of Law Faculty and Staff were thereafter introduced to the new students. Among the Law faculty members present in the orientation were Sandiganbayan Justice Efren Dela Cruz, Judge Karen Canullas-Armada, Judge Eleuterio Bathan, Atty. Larry Ignacio, Atty. Voltaire Duano, and Atty. Ted Pastrana.

The highlight of the gathering was the Salute to Justice Arturo D. Brion as the new Dean of the College of Law. Dean Brion then delivered a warm inspirational message to the new aspiring lawyers of SSC-R, encouraging the students to welcome changes for the betterment of the institution and the student body. He also laid down the new rules aimed at attaining a better academic reputation for the College of Law and an improved standing at the Bar examinations.

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The event was spearheaded by the Law Executive Council Batch 2017-2018 in partnership with the San Sebastian College - Recoletos Law Guidance and various student organizations, fraternities, and sororities.

MEET THE SAN SEBASTIAN COLLEGE OF LAW’S NEW DEPARTMENT HEADS FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2017-2018

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ATTY. TEODORO A. PASTRANA Civil Law Ted Pastrana has extensive experience in litigation and in commercial transactions. He is well experienced in merger and acquisition transactions, joint ventures, loan and financing transactions, establishment and registration of new business including foreign investments (whether as corporation, partnership, branch, representative office or regional headquarters), applications for investment incentives, capital/equity structuring and restructuring, regulatory compliance and corporate dissolution and liquidation.

He has a strong background in aviation law.

He served as Vice-Chairman of the Aerospace Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA). His aviation practice includes representing international carriers Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and SIA Cargo in contentious and regulatory matters.

He has acted for the insurers of Qantas, Jaka Transport and other carriers in matters ranging from passenger’s and shipper’s claims to aviation accidents. He also has a broad aircraft finance experience covering negotiation and documentation of aircraft transactions such as aircraft sale and purchase, aircraft lease, and joint or fractional ownership. He also advises foreign lenders and their advisors in financing the aircraft acquisition of local carriers, and in the registration and deregistration of aircrafts in the Philippines, registration and cancellation of aircraft lien, assignment of rights and other related transactions.

He is a Professor of Law at the San Sebastian College-Recoletos College of Law teaching Obligations and Contracts, Civil Law Review and Taxation Law Review. He was a Bar Reviewer in Taxation and Civil Law at the Jurists Bar Review Center.

He was Dean’s Lister at both the San Beda College of Law where he obtained his law degree, and at the De La Salle University where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1992. Before forming Pastrana Fallar with his law partner Jun Fallar, he was a partner at the JGLaw, and an associate at the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz (ACCRA) Law Offices.

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ATTY. VOLTAIRE T. DUANO Labor Law

Voltaire T. Duano obtained his Bachelor of Arts major in Political Science from Lyceum of the Philippines (now Lyceum of the Philippines University), where he was on the Dean’s list. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws (Ll.B.) from San Sebastian College-Recoletos, College of Law, with distinction as Valedictorian. He also obtained his Master of Laws (Benemeritus) in San Sebastian College-Recoletos, Graduate School of Law.

He started his professional experience in litigation as an Associate Counsel in the law firm of Rufus B. Rodriguez (former Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration & Deportation and now a member of the House of Representatives, Republic of the Philippines). Aside from his law practice, in 1995 he started teaching at San Sebastian College-Recoletos, College of Law and in 2012, at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), College of Law. Amongst the law subjects that he has taught were: Civil Law (such as Obligations & Contracts, Persons & Family Relations, Sales & Other Special Contracts, Credit Transactions, Partnership, Agency & Trusts, Torts & Damages, Civil Law Review 1 and 2) Commercial Law (Corporation Law, Insurance Law, Transportation Law and Intellectual Property Law), Political law (Constitutional Law I), Labor Law (Labor Standards, Labor Relations and Labor Law Review), Remedial Law (Civil Procedure) and other subjects (Legal Ethics, Legal Counseling and Practice Court II). Further, he was special lecturer at Colegio de San Juan de Letran and College of the Holy Spirit of Manila. Voltaire T. Duano is currently working on his books on the subjects of Labor Standards, Modes of Discovery and Provisional Remedies and Special Civil Actions.

In 1995, he was accredited as a Voluntary Arbitrator (VA) by the Department of Labor and Employment-National Conciliation and Mediation Board (DOLE-NCMB), Region IV. Moreover, he has significant corporate law experience as legal counsel and corporate secretary to various domestic corporations.

For more than five (5) years (January 2002 to June 2007), he was also counsel to Philippine Pizza, Inc. (PPI), the franchise holder of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, DQ Treats (American 8

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Dairy Queen) and other international brands in the Philippines. He represented Pizza Hut in some of its intellectual property applications before the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and all labor disputes before the Arbitration Branch of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), National Conciliation and Mediation Board of the Department of Labor and Employment (NCMB), appeals before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. He reviewed the international franchise agreements of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Wolfgang Puck, DQ Treats (American Dairy Queen), Distribution Agreement & Trademark License Agreement of Prima Food, PTE Ltd., Mister Donut and other contracts involving technology transfer and use of intellectual property.

He wrote four (4) law books: Rules on Modes of Discovery, Principles and Cases, 2014 First Edition, Provisional Remedies and Special Civil Actions, Principles and Cases, 2015 First Edition, Principles and Cases, Labor Standards and Social Legislation, First Edition 2015, Principles and Cases, Labor Relations, First Edition 2016.

JUDGE ELEUTERIO L. BATHAN Remedial Law

Judge Eleuterio Bathan is an alumnus of San Sebastian College - Recoletos, Manila with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Major in Political Science in 1990 and Bachelor of Laws in 1997, and became a member of the Philippine Bar in 1999.

He has a significant experience in the legal and judicial field and in the academe, and teaching remedial law subjects at the University of Batangas (Batangas City and Lipa Campuses) and San Sebastian College-Recoletos Manila. At present, he is the Presiding Judge of the RTC, Branch 92, Quezon City; Acting Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 5, Lemery, Batangas and a Judge Designate (for special cases) in the Regional Trial Court, Branches 39 and 40, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.

In performing his duties of the aforementioned designations, he has proven to be a fair and effective adjudicator and and excellent administrator. He dramatically reorganized and revolutionized the system in his court. For this achievement, he was awarded the Best Performing RTC Judge in Quezon City with the Highest Disposal Rate in year 2012. He was also

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acknowledged for his remarkable contribution in the Judiciary with Judicial Excellence Award conferred by the Rotary Club International, Sta. Mesa Chapter, Quezon City on April 7, 2014, and as an Outstanding Alumnus of San Sebastian College of Law-R on January 15, 2014.

COMM. REYNOLD S. MUNSAYAC Criminal Law

Commissioner Reynold Munsayac obtained his high school diploma from Quezon City Science High School and his Bachelor of Arts Degree from University of the Philippines – Diliman. He entered San Sebastian College of Law in 2001 as Entrance Scholar and graduated as Class Valedictorian in 2005.

In 2006, he joined the Law Firm of Fortun Narvasa & Salazar and became a Senior Associate of the Firm, where he handled leading criminal cases including the Maguindanao Massacre and the Batasan Bombing. In 2013, he was also hired as Athletic Director of San Sebastian College – Recoletos and its representative to the NCAA. In 2016, he was appointed as Commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG). He is currently the Acting Chairman of the PCGG.

He still serves as Professor and Bar Review Lecturer for the subjects Criminal Law Review and Election Law in several reputable law schools and Bar Review Centers.

He is also known to the music community as the original vocalist of the band Slapshock.

ATTY. LARRY IGNACIO Commercial Law

Larry Ignacio is a product of Saint Louis University, Baguio City finishing AB Political Science in October 1987 where he graduated Cum Laude. He took up law at the San Sebastian College-Recoletos de Manila and was admitted to the Bar in 1994. He was a working law student but managed to be a consistent Dean’s Lister and was the Editor-in-Chief of The Law Forum, the official publication of the San Sebastian College of Law.

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He started his legal career as an Associate Lawyer of the Rufus B. Rodriguez Law Office, former the Representative of the Second District of Cagayan De Oro City. After his legal training at the Rodriguez Law Office, he worked as a litigation lawyer of various banks such as the Philippine National Bank, Philippine Veterans Bank and Planters Development Bank. He once headed the Legal Department of the Land Bank of the Philippines Leasing Company (LLC).

He has stints in the government service by working as a Technical Assistant of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration, a Director at the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Finance and Administration, Office of the President, MalacaĂąang. He now serves as a Consultant of the City Administrator of Manila.

In 1994, he entered the academe by teaching at the San Sebastian College - Recoletos College of Law. He handled civil, commercial and banking laws. Aside from teaching, he was a Supervising Lawyer of the Sebastinian Office of Legal Aid (SOLA).

He also taught commercial laws at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).

He still teaches at the San Sebastian College of Law and is currently a member of the faculty of the New Era College of Law, University of the East-Law and an Associate Professor of the RVR College of Business, Commercial Law Department, De La Salle University (DLSU).

He is often invited as a MCLE lecturer on banking and allied laws and commercial laws.

He is the author of a book: Notes and Cases on Banking. he currentlty serves as Consultant to City Administrator of Manila.

JUSTICE EFREN N. DELA CRUZ Legal Ethics

Justice Efren dela Cruz obtained his Bachelor of Laws from the University of the East and his Master of Laws from the University of Santo Tomas. He was an excellent private practitioner before he joined the public service as Justice of the Sandiganbayan.

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He is the Chairperson of the First Division of the Sandiganbayan and is known for his integrity and excellence in judicial service. He is a Professor and Bar Reviewer in Criminal Law and Legal Ethics. He is also considered as mentor and adviser by most of the faculty members at San Sebastian College of Law.

He is a Mandatory Continuing Legal Education lecturer in Legal Ethics. He was Bar Examiner in Criminal Law in the 2015 Bar Examinations.

JUDGE KAREN S. CANULLAS-ARMADA Political Law

Karen Canullas-Armada obtained her elementary and high school education from Angelicum College, Quezon City and graduated as an Academic Excellence Awardee. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of the Philippines – Manila where she graduated Cum Laude. She finished her Bachelor of Laws from San Sebastian College Recoletos Manila. She was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2008 and placed sixth (6th) in the 2007 Bar Examinations with a rating of 81.40%.

In March 2016, Karen Canullas-Armada was appointed as the Presiding 1 2

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Judge of Branch 123, Metropolitan Trial Court, Las PiĂąas City performing judicial and administrative functions relative to the operations of lower courts including the conduct of court hearings and rendering of decisions, in criminal, civil and small claims cases. She also previously served as Assisting Judge in Branch 79, Metropolitan Trial Court, Las PiĂąas City last August 31, 2016.

She also worked as Court Attorney VI, Office of Associate Justice Jose Catral Mendoza, Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016 where she engaged in legal research and drafting of case synopses, resolutions and decisions. Some of her drafts became landmark Supreme Court decisions.

Before joining the Judiciary, she worked as an Associate Lawyer at the Manalo Puno Jocson and Guerzon Law Offices from 2008-2009 where she handled labor, administrative, criminal, and civil litigation, involving the preparation of composition of pleadings, attendance in court hearings and interaction with court officers and clients from all walks of life.

She is a member of the San Sebastian Recoletos-Manila College of Law Faculty teaching Political Law subjects, among others. She is also a Bar Lecturer in Political Law and Bar Techniques in various Bar Review Centers.

ATTY. NOEL M. ORTEGA Taxation Law

Atty. Noel Ortega hails from Leyte. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws from San Sebastian College - Recoletos Manila College of Law and graduated as Class Valedictorian in the year of 2007.

From 2009 to 2017 he worked as Court Attorney at Sandiganbayan. At the present, he is a Court Attorney at the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

Atty. Ortega is also a professor in Taxation Law at various law schools in Manila.

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LEGAL ETHICS EXCERPTS: Expectations from Lawyers

Excerpts from: The Legal Front, Manila Bulletin profession and the public interest the profession serves.

BY J. ART D. BRION (RET.) LAWYERS’ ETHICAL RECORD

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he Supreme Court supervises the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and all lawyers in the Philippines. Records on how lawyers fared in legal ethics in the immediate past show that for the years 2012 to 2016 (or, roughly, since Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno became Chief Justice), the Court disbarred 40 lawyers, suspended 224 from the practice of law, suspended 33 from both the practice of law and notarial practice, and suspended 11 from notarial practice. From the judicial ranks, from 2010 to 2016, the Court dismissed from the service one 1 Sandiganbayan justice, 16 regional trial court judges, 9 municipal trial court level judges, and one (1) Shari’a circuit court judge.

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For laymen dealing with lawyers, the most convenient direct reference about lawyers’ ethics are the Code of Professional Responsibility that defines the expectations from lawyers, and the Code of Judicial Conduct that spe Based on the number of cially applies to those in the disciplinary cases now pend- Judiciary. ing with the Court and with These codes are menthe IBP, there appears to be an epidemic of ethical breaches tioned so that non-lawyers by the people whom the pub- can be aware of, and demand lic entrusts with legal prob- compliance with, the ethical lems involving their lives, lib- obligations that lawyers owe them. erty and property. regional trial court judges were suspended, while 9 suffered the same fate at the municipal trial court level; many more were fined, reprimanded or warned for their ethical breaches.

THE CONCEPT OF LEGAL ETHICS

To start with the basics, legal ethics deals with conduct based on the duties that a lawyer owes to the court, to the client, to his colleagues in the profession and to the public. That duties are owed to almost everyone demonstrates On top of all these, 13 society’s regard for the legal

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EXPECTATIONS FROM LAWYERS

If these Codes were to be summarized in as few words as possible and in words that generally underlie all laws, ethical conduct is behavior that is “fair,” “reasonable,” and consistent with “norms of the profession and

the rule of law.”

Lawyers are not born gifted with knowledge of the law and its ethical expectations. They all begin as children within families from where they get their earliest awareness of right and wrong and their sense of reasonableness and fairness. There, they likewise imbibe their other early values.

Lawyers, judges and justices must be fair and reasonable in their dealings with their clients, and with counsels and litigants on the part of the courts. Lawyers as well as the courts owe the parties affected by their actions and the general public, compliance with the laws and community standards.

Obedience to parents and respect for others, par In more concrete terms, ticularly the elders, are earlawyers must be reasonably ly lessons that are usually competent in their knowledge learned as part of traditional and application of the law. Filipino family values. In later They must devote sufficient years, these traits metamortime to the task they commit- phose into respect for and ted to undertake and to the obedience to the law and the protection of the interests of legal authorities. their clients. They are obliged, too, to assist the courts in the Early on, too, we imdelivery of justice, giving the bibe as children the sense of courts their due attention, re- “hiya” – i.e, of feeling shame spect and obedience. for conduct that violates family or community stand Magistrates carry the ards. We are taught that it is same obligations of compe- shameful to be dishonest in tence, fair dealing, and adher- and outside the home; to be ence to the rule of law, adjust- caught as a petty thief in the ed to their own adjudicative neighborhood is a shame that duties. Everyone must act the whole family must bear in a manner not injurious to before the community. the profession, to the courts, to rights of the public and to This early awareness public interest in general. (or lack of it) and the sense of right and wrong form part ETHICAL TRAINING of that reservoir of memories AND THE HOME that may run deep and whose contents may be carried over

to people’s mature years, unless influenced by formal education and training, and societal experiences. They become the foundation that would influence the child when he or she becomes a lawyer.

Hence training in legal ethics really starts at the home. For example, the sense of “hiya” that should start from the home, is the brake that self-restrains a man in his adult years from crossing into forbidden unethical territory; when the brake of “hiya” has never been there or if it fails, the car of ethical conduct crashes.

FORMAL EDUCATION AND ETHICS

Formal education and training on morality begin at school; values are reinforced as rules and standards of conduct taught in classes on good manners and right conduct, civics, social studies and religion (in religious schools).

Training in these rules and standards should ideally heighten as children mature into their difficult years of puberty and as they gain greater exposure outside the family.

This phase of life, too, serves as essential foundation of a future lawyer’s eth-

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ical conduct. By the time they enter their senior high school and college years, the “babies” we used to cuddle are already young adults receiving moral seasoning from their outside social experiences, either from school associations or from the outside, or from their peer groups.

The formal teaching of ethics should ideally seriously start at this point, to give these young adults the opportunity to fully grasp and internalize the norms of proper conduct, and to counter-balance bad early lessons or the lack of training in their younger years.

When a student enters law school after four years of college pre-law, educators are faced with law students with their own fairly developed values, some of them already deeply rooted. This is a reality that law schools should accept as a starting point in teaching Legal Ethics.

In effect, legal educators work under a handicap and must accordingly adjust.

This drives home the importance of training and conditioning in ethics from the earliest opportunity and the need for a practical approach.

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al pressures are far easier to POST-LAW SCHOOL handle than the exacting and EXPECTATIONS FROM unforgiving demands that the OTHER CONCERNED real world of law practice posACTORS es to lawyers intent on walking the straight and narrow

After law school and ethical path. the Bar, the turns of the profession and the supervisory Not a few surrender authorities start. The legal the option to walk through profession, through the Inte- this difficult path. Offenses grated Bar and the law firms, involving drugs, graft and cormust help guide its law- ruption, plunder and even the yer-members discharge their shenanigans of politicians are ethical obligations, while the some of the recent examples supervisory authority – the of the choices lawyers made.

Supreme Court – must be In all these, law is a major strict though fair and even- consideration and lawyers as handed. advocates have a traditional and proper role to play.

The public dealing with lawyers, on the other hand, Many times, howevmust also be aware of law- er, they choose to act in exyers’ ethical and professional cess of what the laws and the obligations. This awareness rules of the profession allow and their strict call for com- them to do. Typically in these pliance must be there to re- latter situations, lawyers do lay to lawyers the need to toe not “pull the trigger” or perthe straight and narrow path sonally undertake the plunof ethical conduct. This flow der, fixing, and cheating, but illustrates how the burden of they provide the graver role of fostering ethics in the legal lending their lawyerly brains profession is best shared. The and skills in the conceptualgreatest burden, of course, ization, the preparation or the rests with the individual law- cover-up of the ugly deeds. yer.

For example, the lawTHE LAWYERS’ LEGAL yers’ roles in the DAP and PRACTICE WORLD PDAF scandals, when these fully come to light, should

In the real world, the be interesting to examine, as legal profession’s intellectu- frauds of this scale could not

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have taken place without the pronouncements, and in their brains and scheming of law- private statements. The cold yers behind them. reality is that we are in the real world where people look

In the Philippines, law- the other way when their own yers face the world of law interests are involved. We practice burdened by the high live in a hypocritical world, ideals that society, the law to use the words of President profession, and one’s own Duterte. alma mater have imposed on them. Yet, this same society, Another face of the real at the practical level, often- world is a society where ineqtimes does not practice the uity still reigns. Despite rehigh ideals it professes and cent improvements, pervasive that it has itself set. hunger, poverty, and appalling social inequality still exist;

In law practice, for ex- our distribution of wealth and ample, it is not remote to income is among the worst in meet clients who will demand our part of the world. We do positive results at whatever not even need to cite statistics cost, fair or foul. In the Judi- to support these statements ciary are “fixers” who, with as a simple tour of the poorer seeming innocence, very side of Metro Manila can valisubtly feel out if the judges date them. can be “talked to,” to use a common euphemism in the Quite recently, for exprofession. In their mildest ample, the homeless poor approach, they invite judges took the law into their hands to occasions, seemingly neu- by illegally occupying homes tral, but where a litigant just intended for the police and “happens” to be present; or the members of the military. they may engage judges in ac- The government, fortunately ademic arguments which they or unfortunately, looked the steer to outstanding issues in other way and allowed them pending cases. to stay in the illegally-occupied units (thereby avoiding One wonders why a blood bath), but this cannot these people so act when they be the norm in our society; themselves condemn graft otherwise, anarchy will reign. and corruption to high heavens in their public speeches With this kind of awareand writings, in their press ness, what would a labor law-

yer, for example, do when his client, awash with funds, stubbornly resists perfectly legal demands that merely come up to the minimum legal standards?

Is it alright to deliberately delay a criminal case as a strategy to exhaust the prosecution and its witnesses to the point of surrender? Should a lawyer who has evidence of corruption in the judiciary simply keep silent or claim lack of personal knowledge in order to protect his still pending cases, or blow the whistle on the evil doers?

Independently of what we read in the newspapers, have lawyers given thought to how they would – as lawyers and as responsible citizens – react to the grim statistics of drug trafficking and the government’s chosen approaches and remedies?

These are some of the questions that lawyers do not directly meet in law school but will meet in the real world. Faced with these types of situations where the path of least resistance may be easier to take, what should a lawyer do? This is the stuff of legal ethics our law students should be acquainted with.

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TEACHING LEGAL ETHICS

If, indeed, law students are no longer children with malleable minds, an obvious first step is to pay attention to their early growing up years when their minds are more open and receptive.

While legal educators cannot interfere in the home, they can, for example, show role models whom the younger minds can begin to look up to, to counterbalance the attractive images of crooks displaying their illegally funded “toys.” The program of projecting these role models is one that the law schools, through the Association of Law Deans, should be able to undertake without difficulty.

be required to enroll in these subjects before admission to law school. Even Congress can play a significant role by amending the charter of the Legal Education Board, an almost three decade old law that must be brought to the level of present realities in terms of the objectives, powers, budget and capabilities of the Board. An empowered Board is already a major first step towards the objective of effective and globally-competitive legal education.

in teaching major Bar subjects, i.e., by running through the codified rules provision by provision, supplemented by applicable Supreme Court rulings as interpretative examples.

The University of the Philippines tested another method about a decade ago, which involved the integration of legal ethics into selected major law subjects such as family law, commercial law, and political law. Thus, after a topic in these major subjects, related ethical principles and problems are interjected and discussed. (I tried the approach by posing Bar exam questions with ethical content in the 2013 Bar Examinations, but none of the subsequent Bar Chairmen took up the approach.)

Under current realities, few illusions exist regarding the difficulty of effectively teaching ethical standards that will live up to society’s high-minded expectations.

But difficulty alone should not deter legal educators and should all the more drive

It may perhaps be time them into looking for better for the government, through and more effective approach- A third approach advothe Department of Education, es. cated by some professors, is the Legal Education Board the topical approach that diand the Supreme Court, with- Ethical problems, un- vides the course into the main their respective competen- quantified though they may jor principles of Legal Ethics, cies, to impose a more focused be, should be continually ad- taking up the relevant codal pre-law program with greater dressed since they can strike provisions as the ethical prinemphasis on philosophy and at the very heart of society ciples are discussed, and ussocial subjects that can awak- and the legal profession. Var- ing prepared case studies that en students’ awareness of ious approaches have been illustrate the application of ethics. used over the years in teach- the principles and doctrines ing Legal Ethics. The teach- under discussion.

At the very least, those ing method during my time who are not from strictly law (or about 40 years ago) has Whichever method or preparatory programs, should been the same method used approach is used, effective

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teaching to a large extent depends on the skill and competence of the handling professor and the importance given by the law school administration to Legal Ethics.

A practically unwritten rule in most law schools is that ethics is a minor subject that receives second priority in terms of the required units and schedules. Top priority, of course, is given to the subjects carrying more weight in the Bar examinations.

Legal Ethics is usually only a two or three-unit subject in the law school curriculum. It is not surprising if it is taught on lazy Saturday afternoons, as a last subject, when the students are raring to start their weekend. Or it may be a filler in the schedule of subjects, slotted to the leftover hours after the schedules for the major subjects have been made.

The qualifications and expertise of the teachers handling legal ethics may also raise some concerns. In not a few law schools, the professors are experts whose focus is on the theoretical side of ethics and who have had no or very little law practice exposure.

Thus, guidance to students is based on theory and on the

Supreme Court rulings, not to practical application. from the prism of life in the law firm or the conduct of the The first method is the actual trial. traditional method and is taught largely for substantive

Consequently, students content and not for ready apare given very limited oppor- plication to real life situations. tunities for practical debates The second method (that inon the questions and issues tegrates and makes ethics a raised based on practical ap- part of substantive subjects) plication in the law practice is attractive but may not be environment. easy to implement and use. It presents a new dimension to

Another reality with law professors who may resist respect to the handling pro- a meaningful incorporation fessors relates to the number and integration of ethics into of lawyers with specific train- their subjects. ing and expertise in teaching ethics; they are not many, cer- There may also be a tainly not as numerous as the paucity of legal materials sperich field of experts that con- cific to the integrated ethics stitutional law, internation- and substantive law subjects al law, and other substantive that teachers may readily use subjects offer. Thus, some law in the classroom. A big downschools may fall back on the side is that the ethical aspects most basic qualification, the of the integrated subject may LL.B. degree (which will not be “drowned out” by the mabe fully upgraded to LL.M. jor subject to which it is atas a requirement until Year tached; thus, it may be tak2021) and the professor’s en up only if time will allow own limited exposure to le- or may not at all be taken in gal ethics (which is not a live depth. Either way, the teachand oft-discussed topic in law ing of ethics suffers. practice).

The third method From among these teaches ethics as a separate three methods or approach- subject, mapped along the es, the most effective is either lines of applicable ethical the second or the third meth- principles. Already, the Code od because of their focused of Professional Responsibility approach that allows the easy is subdivided along the lines relation of ethical principles of major application of legal

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ethics -The Lawyer and Soci- what the Supreme Court said. ety; the Lawyer and the Legal Profession; the Lawyer and 0-0-0 the Courts; and the Lawyer and the Client.

This kind of presentation can be refined with the further use of principles that lawyers can long remember.

An enhanced presentation of the various ethical principles can be made through prepared case studies. These case studies will contain carefully tailored facts that highlight the ethical principles involved and their problem areas.

The facts may be drawn from actual Supreme Court rulings with appropriate modifications to adapt them to the principles under discussion; the summary does not need to result in the same conclusions as the original decided cases.

This open-ended approach, uninfluenced by specific Court rulings that accompany decided cases, leave ample room for debate in resolving the problem/s posed.

The potential for deeper inter - action will hopefully encourage the classroom debates and the “thinking through� that legal education needs to produce thinking lawyers, not lawyers who can only parrot

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Event Highlights

LEAP OF THE STAG: A SALUTE TO THE FEARLESS

SSC-R Law Centralized Bar Operations 2017

BY CATHERINE JOY ESTEVES

T

he San Sebastian College - Recoletos Manila, College of Law has once again staged a Bar Operations that is one for the books!

Themed “Leap of the Stag”, the Centralized Bar Operations 2017 culminated with its traditional yet exceptional ‘Salubong’, leaving everyone at the University of Santo Tomas in awe.

The manifestation of school spirit -- a truly united Sebastinian community -- was once again demonstrated in the stretch of Espana Boulevard. Eye-catching LED placards and banners stood out as different sororities, fraternities, organizations, alumni, and students come together to give support to the Stags.

Leading the Centralized Bar Operations 2017 was no other than Judge Karen Canullas-Armada, a member of the faculty of the SSC-R Law.

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Under the direction and guidance of the new Dean, Retired Justice Arturo Brion, Judge Karen spearheaded various pre-bar activities including a series of last minute lectures conducted by renowned members of the legal profession and members of the faculty of SSC-R Law, such as Atty. Alex Medina (Political Law), Atty. Voltaire Duano (Labor Law), Atty.

Raegan Capuno (Taxation Law), Atty. Crisostomo Uribe (Civil Law), Commissioner Reynold S. Munsayac (Criminal Law), Prosecutor Rocille Aquino-Tambasacan (Commercial Law), Justice Efren Dela Cruz (Legal Ethics), and Judge Eleuterio Bathan (Remedial Law).

Making sure that the bar takers were in their A-game, pre-week notes and last minute tips were distributed to all examinees, tapping all fraternities, sororities, organizations, alumni, and students of the SSC-R Law.

While the Centralized Bar Operations 2017 was a huge success, it may not have been possible without the help of the whole Sebastinian Community, most especially the volunteers from Law Executive Council, fraternities, sororities, organizations, faculty and staff, and students. From hotel operations to bar site operations, the volunteers have tirelessly endured the entire month in providing the best support system possible.

The Centralized Bar Operations 2017 aims to imitate, if not surpass, the success of last year’s Bar Exam, which the SSC-R Law posted a 75.9% passing rate for the first takers.

Kudos to everyone who took part in ensuring the success of the Centralized Bar Operations 2017. Congratulations, Sebastinian Community!

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SSC-R Law Centralized Bar Operations 2017

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