No quarantining the law

The lockdown has robbed our students of learning opportunities? I say au contraire. ECQ is an educational petri dish for everything from epidemiology, ecology, economics, sociology, k-dramas etc. Overnight, we are medical experts. And we also can’t help mutating into authorities on the law. 

We are discovering novel ways of appreciating the Constitution and the legal system: there is the tension between police power/public health and human rights. For the labor/management sector, it’s the lockdown’s impact on employment. Lately, criminal law is en vogue what with us being a captive market to successive episodes of “cops gone wild.”

Never have I ever. Last week, we witnessed the checkpoint incident that resulted in the death of Corporal Winston Ragos (Ret.) at the hands of a police officer. This week, also a quarantine offshoot, the dramatis personae are the hapless police officer vs. the arrogant citizen. Or is it the other way around? 

The K-drama obsessed are tickled to see the lawman in camouflage uniform and the gardening lady as the local version of Crash Landing on You. But the kangaroo court of social media can’t help being bothered by the abuse of power (or is it abuse of right?) witnessed in uploaded videos.  

This Dasmariñas Village incident has ignited a firestorm for all those reasons, plus. The plus here is the situs. The whole encounter happened to take place in someone’s home.  

When castle is king. As a general proposition, we citizens are deferential to authority. Once we step out of our house, we know enough that our actions are subject to the equal rights of fellow citizens to enjoy their space. But once back inside our homes, we also know enough that no one can dictate to us what we can do for as long as we are not engaged in criminal activity. Yes, we can drink. And we don’t have to wear face masks. No law makes the doing of either a crime.   

The sanctity of one’s home, his personal liberty and the indefeasible right to privacy is the reason behind the legal concepts of prohibited searches without a warrant under the Constitution, criminalizing violation of domicile under the Revised Penal Code and stand your ground statutes in other jurisdictions conferring immunity on the use of deadly force against an intruder.  

Sinong Shunga? Once again, graduates from the provincial law schools stamped their class on the bar exams. UST Legazpi (the former Aquinas University) copped 1st and 3rd. Perennial topnotchers UP, Ateneo and San Beda (Big 3) were nowhere. The highest placed public law school passer was from Palawan State University in 5th (its first ever placer).  

For the past three exams, the big three have either been shut out of the top 10 or buried by provincial schools’ dominance. The gap between legal education within and without Metro Manila has been closed. 

When the Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) was organized in 1967, all 12 members of its inaugural board were Manila-based. This was because it was the older higher education institutions in the University belt that had first set up their professional schools.  UP, Ateneo, San Beda and UST hold the record for the most number of topnotchers. But if these past years’ results are an indication, that record has more to do with these schools having been around longer.  

The improbable journey to Cebu and beyond. The narrative of reform continues with the announcement by the Court that, for the first time in its 118-year history, the exams will be co-staged outside Metro Manila. Yes, Virginia, while the PRC administered licensure exams for medicine, accountancy, architecture, engineering, nursing et. al. have long been conducted not just in NCR but in various testing centers in North Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the Supreme Court administered Bar exams have only ever been held in Imperial Manila. Beginning next year, it will also be held in Cebu.

What this means is that candidates from Cebu and its vicinity will no longer have to migrate to Manila for the month long Bar (four Sundays) or even before that “for acclimatization” or for review classes, staying in cramped quarters (even after selling off the family carabao), living separate from loved ones, spending on travel, and moving away from comfort zones.  

The challenge now will be for the Supreme Court to set up shop in Cebu for the historic 2020 debut. Even if Cebu already hosts the Court of Appeals - Cebu Station, there is still considerable logistical preparations to guarantee the integrity of the examination process. The city government and the Cebu Law academe led by former University of Cebu Law dean Baldomero Estenzo, who started banging on the Supreme Court’s door back in the day, will surely present a shining showcase for legal education and the city’s economy. 

The first dance. That’s right, the decision was not an impulse event compelled by the remote connection platforms of our new normal. Rather, this leap of faith is the result of the confluence of a forward looking, progressive Supreme Court leadership and the tireless advocacy by an enlightened Philippine Association of Law Schools. It was a categorical part of the PALS president’s reform agenda this year to push for regionalization. The PALS was the Scottie Pippen to Dean Estenzo’s Michael Jordan, with the Supreme Court as coach Phil Jackson ultimately calling the play.  

There is no reason why this initiative should not succeed. And after it does, its only a matter of time before we have a truly national Bar exams with Mindanao as a third venue. 

Congratulations to the latest crop of bar passers in their metamorphosis into officers of the court. We appreciate the students’ success on a deeper level for providing a richly needed incentive of hope to help us power through these difficult times.