How I lost my faith with our judicial system

I admit. I took for granted my studies in Law School. I prioritized my job as a police beat reporter than my studies, though I graduated without failing grades.It was my mom’s decision to take Law anyway. As I was obedient to submit to the will of my mom, I did without showing her hesitation.

Yes, the Legal Profession brought prestige and lots of money. But I was not thinking of those things at that time. Until my mom died before I graduated her chosen course for me. Painful, indeed. Then comes typhoon Yolanda. Destroying all my possessions, even my remaining strength and hope. Yes, it’s like living in hell –full of pain, sorrow, agony, and sacrifices.

Despite those experiences, I didn’t forgot my mom’s dream –me, to become a lawyer someday. Ambitious, right? Indeed. For an orphan like me to take the most expensive review of all examinations in the country, is, yes an impossible thing to happen. I worked my ass for a year as a freelance writer and took my first try in 2015. After 2 months of self-review, of course, I failed. I prioritized my job again because no one would feed and take a roof over me. I cried, of course but what else I can do.

I worked again in 2016, of course, with the same goal that someday I can take my review without working so I should earn maybe a hundred thousand. The money would cover my 6-month review that includes food, a room, bar review payment, petition to Supreme Court and other expenses. Yes, that is how a normal bar reviewee would spend. Crazy, right? That’s a lot of money. They say being a lawyer is a privilege not a right. But I say, even taking the review is already a privilege. Yes. Because not all law graduates can afford this kind of preparation. And yes, this is with all the hopes that someone will pass the most difficult examination in the country and bear the prefix of A-T-T-Y.

Yes, as stubborn as I am to take my chance, I accepted a job offer in a local government unit as a writer for me to take my second review. I considered myself lucky because I took my review in UP Law Center. I worked as a writer in the morning from April to August and took my review class in the afternoon. Yes, I still work. Because if I won’t, I will die in hunger. Sometimes, I was crying in the bathroom realizing my situation dreaming of the opposite. I envy my classmates taking their review without working. But I accepted my fate. Maybe I was just born to suffer this kind of situation.

I took my 2^nd attempt in 2017, and of course, I failed. I knew in myself that I have answered most of the questions correctly, but maybe the examiner was looking for another answer. I felt depressed. I want to be a lawyer. But fate dictates otherwise. Though I admit that I lacked proper preparations. I blame no one for my failure. Until I thought of taking it again in my third and last chance this year.

In a movie, I heard a lawyer said: the law is the reflection of the society. Indeed, he is right. Until such sentence was absorbed when Solicitor General Calida filed a Quo Warranto petition against former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. It is an elementary rule that an impeachable official can only be removed by impeachment, and Sereno is an impeachable officer. The law is clear and there is no room for interpretation. But the magistrates ruled in majority the otherwise. And yes, whether we like it or not, the SC decision will now be part of the law of the land and became a precedent. And it is a shame.

Admittedly, the decision has lost my entire faith with the justice system. We knew how the President attacked Sereno. I believed that the judgment was clouded with political consideration. If this is our court, our justices, and our justice system work, then my faith is very misplaced. What happened made it hard for me to convince myself to take the bar again. How would you motivate yourself to make your best if you’re faith with the profession and the justice system was lost? Yes, Legal Profession is not about MONEY, it is about FAITH with JUSTICE.