The legacy of Doy Laurel
The late Vice President Salvador “Doy” H. Laurel would have turned 86 last Tuesday. And had he been alive today, he would have beamed that famous smile — described as “like no other” by his gracious widow Celia Diaz-Laurel — upon meeting Mark Xavier Oyales, the young man who, despite difficulties, placed second in the 2013 Bar exams.
Mark’s story is nothing short of inspiring. From a poor family in Babatngon, Leyte, he showed exceptional academic ability, graduating cum laude at the UP Visayas-Tacloban with a degree in Biology. He would have wanted to become a doctor, but his parents could not afford to send him to medical school. Following a professor’s advice, he then took the entrance exam for the UP College of Law in Diliman.
Armed with grit and determination, P6,000 in his pocket, a few shirts and a couple of pants bundled in a backpack, Mark braved it out to try for a scholarship, thinking the worst that could happen was for him to go back home and get a job if he ran out of money.
“Since it was UP, I thought it was okay to go for an interview in slippers. But apparently, the College of Law has a different culture, so when Associate Dean Chit Jardeleza saw me, she asked, ‘Do you have shoes, Mr. Oyales?’ I told her yes, after which she asked me if I needed a scholarship,” Mark recalls with a grin, adding that he was given a scholarship for one year. He then obtained a grant from the Salvador H. Laurel Scholarship and Development Foundation, augmenting his stipend by working as a research assistant.
The young man became a ward of sorts of the College of Law professors who knew of his financial difficulties, and thus would call him over to share in the food whenever there were academic functions. One can only imagine the pride his parents Jerry and Lea Oyales felt when he graduated cum laude at the UP College of Law — more so when he earned the No. 2 spot at the 2013 Bar exams without attending formal review classes. Jerry, who works as an administrative assistant for the Tacloban City government, admits that their life will probably change a little now that Mark is working (at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan Law Office), but modestly says it is already enough that everyone in the family is healthy.
Baby Herrera, who was the longtime executive assistant of the late vice president, says that one of Tito Doy’s last wishes was to put up scholarships at UP and his other alma maters like La Salle and Yale, but he figured that UP would need it more. Hence, the endowment for the College of Law. “We want the foundation to be relevant to the times,” Baby discloses, adding that they now have a hand in the implementation to make sure that the scholarship stipend will be of significant help to the recipients.
Those who meet Mark Oyales note his similarities with Doy Laurel in terms of disposition and outlook. Doy took up Medicine first before shifting to Law, the same academic path that Mark followed. Just like the former vice president, Mark wants to go into public service eventually, knowing the vast power the law profession holds in upholding justice. Not many know that Doy Laurel put up the first free legal aid group known as the Citizens Legal Aid Society of the Philippines, and during his stint at the Senate, he was known as the champion of social justice having authored the “Justice for the Poor Laws.”
In Mark Xavier Oyales, one is pretty certain that the legacy of Doy Laurel started will live on, with the young man determined to use his legal skills to earn enough money that would enable him to put up a foundation someday and give brilliant young people the same kind of help that the Salvador H. Laurel Scholarship and Development Foundation has given him: hope, and the opportunity to have a better life through education.
