Extraordinarily productive during the lockdown

Instead of criticizing others, I have learned to use Zoom, in addition to cellphone text and calls, Viber, Twitter, Facebook, and many other applications using digital platforms. I am in my laptop most of the day as my virtual office, where I can communicate with all my clients and students, relatives and friends, all over the country from Cebu to Ilocos, all the way to Bicol, Negros, and to Mindanao, and also in the US, from LA to New York, from Seattle to Florida. I have friends with whom I regularly get in touch with each day, through digital platforms. I can see the faces of my siblings, nephews, nieces, and friends in Washington via Zoom. I connect with OFWs in Kuwait, Dubai, Riyadh, and Qatar, as well as in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore by Facebook.

But the most useful results of the lockdown was that I was able to write four books from January to May, one book a month is not a bad achievement. I have my eldest son, a new lawyer, as my co-author and he does the research and encoding of Supreme Court decisions. I do the analysis and the arrangement of laws and jurisprudence, and also the editing. I have five young Law students who help us encode. I pay them P1,000 a day, which is fair because that daily income supports their Law school studies. I give each of them a predetermined volume of encoded cases and they learn a lot while earning by working for me and with me. I have been doing this since the 1980s, and many of my mentees are now lawyers and judges.

The drafts of the four books were picked up by the printing company via Lalamove and Grab, and so, while lockdown was ongoing, my productivity was not hampered, but even enhanced. The two books were about termination of employment. For management, my son and I wrote a blue book, titled How to Terminate Employment Legally (With Honor and Dignity). For employees who feel they were illegally dismissed, we have written a red book, How to File Illegal Dismissal Cases. For the Bar exams, we wrote a yellow book, The Ultimate Bar Review Compendium for 2020. Then, for those who are rushing one month before the Bar exams, we also wrote a pre-week green book, The Ultimate Bar Guide.

Aside from all these, I am writing a daily column for this paper, What Matters Most. I am planning to compile all my written pieces, one book about politics and government, one for labor cases, another for OFWs, still another about life and love, one on family matters, and lastly about legal issues. I am also starting my next book, a light brown one, on The Law and Cases about OFWs and Their Victories and Pains. Another one coming up is an orange book on Legitimate Job Contracting and Outsourcing. I have many titles in my mind and I am even writing an autobiography titled What Really Matters Most.

Indeed, there are a lot of things to do, other than complaining, and these are more fulfilling and joyful.