Not Once, But Twice

Now that I am to take my bar this September, it reminds me of the lessons I have learned in law school, some profound, some enlightening, some discouraging, some depressing, but others, I have to learn twice. Yup, two times. Dalawa!

Here is a rundown of what they “lessons” I had to learn and re-learn for a second time.

Criminal Law 1

First take:

Professor: Atty. Maximo Amurao
Atty. Maximo Amurao is 1/3 of the infamous triumvirate of my former school San Beda College known as the Triple A, the triple threat of San Beda College of Law. He was THE first law school professor, and when I say first I mean the first to come to class, all with his tall, dark personality. Atty. Amurao was excellent both in teaching and scaring the shit out of me. But you learn, and you learn well. Although our personality did not necessarily match, I mean personal;ity as I have no other term for it. To illustrate , my recitation grade (announced in front of the whole class) was 78, 60, 60, 70, 75, 70, 60, 60 ,60… and whole bunch of 60’s and 70’s. I still remember the question when I got my highest Amurao grade, it was about ex post facto law and subsequent amendemt of penal laws and if favorable to the accused. It was in the form of a hypothetical question: “suppose Senator Revilla would lessen the penalty for Illegal Possession of firearms from 12 years to 8 years, and Robin Padilla has already served 9 years, what will happen to Robin Padilla?” The showbiz connection saved my utterly humiliating recitation grade.
We made a mistake in our first class of asking for his name, all he had for us was “ask around, and I tell you will never forget my name until you take the bar” (I am to take the bar and I still tremble just hearing his name being spoke)

Final Grade: 63

Second Take:

Professor: Atty. Ramel Muria

It was fairly easy, okay, who am I kidding it was easy as this was my second take. The difficulty was the expectation as I already took it the year before. That was as to the codal provisions. But Atty. Muria bombarded us with cases after cases aftes cases, some of them still in Spanish, some them very very old, some of them does not even have citations so it was more of a research effect. Atyy. Muria knew all the cases well, despite the fact that we had to read hundreds of cases we had to memorize every detail of every case. Names, dates, locations, penalties, decisions, witnesses and what was worse you can neve have a complete recitation until you know all the “important” facts, otherwise you stand. Just stand. Oh, and not to mention my book being thrown out of the classroom as he has a strictly no open book policy.

Final Grade: 85

Constitutional Law 1

First take:

Professor: Atty. Juanito Arcilla

Remember the Triple A I was telling you about? He was the second member. And yes, we ended up having both of them in one day, for two consecutive days Wednesday and Thursday. A bunch of my classmates dropped one of the subjects. I fought on and eventually lost. It was Atty. Arcilla that really got me in this love for political law. His brilliance alone would leave you speechless, and then ypu see him in this denim jacket that reminds you circa 60’s Easy Rider movie types, and you realize that he is a cool guy, the side his students never really experience. He asked us to read thousands of cases, memorize the constitution and act as if we enjoy it. (Although in retrospect, it was the political law cases that I truly enjoyed reading) He has this special way of making an emphasis with his accent like CONG-ress or PREZ-ident. And then it was coupled with his hand gestures falling on top of the table making this thump sound. Until today I have not forgotten justiciable question and political question. Nor forget to make a list of the powers of congress. (But seeing our congress today, you would want to down list those powers) He was one of the few who did not really make use of class cards or make that very mundane yet psychologically traumatic act of “shuffling.” He was making use of a class record, listed alphabetically, so we know when the gaze goes down, all of us with M-Z surnames were all trembling.

The most memorable experience I had with him, was when I was called for recitation on Wednesday. I was fairly confident that I will not be called for the next recitation the next day, I did not study, not even a word. I was even telling my classmates of my presumption that I will not be called for recitation. As confident as I was, I even sat right in front of him, one of the scariest seats in town. I was listening to the other recitations, my book closed right in front of me and then, and then I heard him say, mis-TER KE-ha-nooooo… give us the case of Araneta vs. Dinglasan… SHOCKED!!! And my classmates saw the terror on my face. Pure, sheer terror! Embarrassment, well, I’m used to it. I will never ever forget the case of Araneta vs. Dinglasan. Presumption in law school is like a bloody meat in a shark infected water.

Final Grade: 69

Second Take: Professor: Atty. Jose Aguila Grapilon

The Renaissance man. Since this was my second take, I was not really difficult reading all those concepts, but my second take was helpful, if my first take was pure theoretical, my second one was application, praxis even. Atty. Grapilon showed us the forest amidst the trees, the bigger picture. You learn by reading, you understand by exposure was what I am most grateful for Atty. Grapilon and the life lessons you take with you. Nothing would teach you how to become a renaissance man than a renaissance man himself; books, movies, music, TV, plays, are helpful tools not only to become a good lawyer, but more importantly to become a good person. He includes Grammar and History lessons in his class.

Of course, no Grapilon write up would be complete without speaking of his generosity. Free beer, cigarettes, food and occasionally free movie.

Final Grade: 86

Persons and Family Relations

First take:

Professor: Judge Hernando

Uh, of our class only one passed the midterms, she is now a lawyer. Persons was very difficult but when we look back, it was mostly fun, the memories we had with Judge Hernando. And in the spirit of the fun memories, I would just like to talk about the fun things. The bad ones are memorization of hundreds of provisions, reading hundreds of cases, no absences etc….to be honest I do not remember Persons being that very difficult, I don’t even have memories of bad recitations, oh no, I had many of them but not memorable ones.
He gave us the spelling of Mercado-Fehr vs. Fehr, his spelling was Fi-E-H-R…nobody laughed.

He asked a classmate if he was a judge how he would decide the case he answered “Wherefore” …everybody snickered…

A classmate was absent, in the next meeting he was asked about a case not part of the assignment, he was not able to answer he was asked to leave… everybody trembled

A classmate was absent, the next meeting she was asked to recite articles 1 – 4 of the civil code, she was able to answer, and then he included articles 5 – 10, she had it memorized too…everybody smiled.

When I transferred, he also transferred, I saw him paid my respects, greeted him and he said “I remember you” yes, sir, we remember each other, after a few years, he became a bar examiner and a Justice.

Final Grade: 69

Second Take:

Professor: Atty. Rex Austria

Well, most cases we had were just repeated of what we had the first time, also we had most of the provisions memorized; the only significant thing that happened was the controversy that happened in San Beda prior to their transfer, which was asked in our Finals Examination.

Some classmates would see him read a book in a library hours before class, preparing just as we were.

This was also the second time I had Atyy. Austria for a professor, he was my Legal Ethics professor in San Beda, he gave me a 75.

Final Grade: 88

Obligations and Contracts

First Take:

Professor: Dean Domingo Navarro

Oooohhhh… cigarettes and law working hand in hand, sometimes in our favor. Dean was amazing in teaching his civil law subjects, but he would fail you just like that, after years after I had him as a professor I still hear horror stories about him. But the important thing is that you learn. You do not forget anything he teaches or ask. To this day, I can still recall the elements of Caso Fortuito and the Statutes of Fraud. He wasn’t just plain scary, in fact, I would have loved to have him as a professor again. Or maybe not. I also had the experience of having the third A of the Triple A when Dean got sick in the middle of the semester, we had to sit in in the class of Atty. Albay, so I did get to experience all of the Triple A.


My most memorable recitation was with the case of Juntilla vs. Fontanar, a fortuitous event case, about a jeepney falling into ravine and the passenger losing his Omega watch.

Final Grade: 68

Second Take:
Professor: Judge Eugene Paras

Of course I had to use the book of his father. I do not really remember much about my second take, nothing really stands out to be immortalized in writing. But Judge Paras was great; he polished whatever we learned in our first take. I do remember him laughing when we used the term pour autrui, our pronunciation was POR-O-TRI, his was POR-AU-TUR… till today, we had no idea what is the proper pronunciation.

Final Grade: 83

Torts and Damages

First Take: Professor Dean Flores

Dean Flores never really taught us anything, he would come to school tell, stories, give us an outline and a handout and that is it. Nothing more. Nothing less., Why I failed is probably a question that will be answered in the afterlife. But I am not holding my breath. But he tell great stories, he is of a certain age that whatever story he tells is a little charming, my favorite was his experience in the Japan Airlines case about him being stranded in Japan when Mt. Pinatubo erupted.

Final Grade: 70

Second Take:

Professor: Atty. Dimson

Atty. Dimson has had reputation in our school; she fails a lot of students. I was afraid of her. This is probably the only incident that my second take is more difficult than the first time. I had to digest ten cases per week, not to mention the probability of being called in recitation and the possibility of a quiz. She never tells you if your answer is correct or wrong. She dislikes absent students and even calls them for recitation with an automatic grade of 65, I had that fate. I beg her to grant me reprieve of reporting on a case in lieu of my 65. Nope, she said. I like torts and damages, I took it twice.
Final Grade: 80

Because I took many subjects twice I hope I repeated them enough so I will not have to take the Bar Exams twice.

Bar Exams = Not twice, But Once…





This was witten 75 days before the first of the four sundays of september.