10/22/2017 foursundaysofseptember: Not Once, But Twice

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MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2010 FOLLOWERS

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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 Sundin

school, some profound, some enlightening, some

discouraging, some depressing, but others, I have
BLOG ARCHIVE
to learn twice. Yup, two times. Dalawa!
► 2012 (2)
Here is a rundown of what they “lessons” I had to ► 2011 (9)
learn and re-learn for a second time.
▼ 2010 (17)
► October (1)
Criminal Law 1
► September (6)
First take: ► August (3)
► July (1)
Professor: Atty. Maximo Amurao
▼ June (2)
Atty. Maximo Amurao is 1/3 of the infamous
Not Once, But Twice
triumvirate of my former school San Beda College
known as the Triple A, the triple threat of San 7 things you need to
Beda College of Law. He was THE first law school learn about law
professor, and when I say first I mean the first to school, but w...

come to class, all with his tall, dark personality. ► May (1)
Atty. Amurao was excellent both in teaching and
► March (3)
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
ABOUT ME
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other term for it. To illustrate , my recitation FOURSUNDAYSOFSEPTEMB

ER
grade (announced in front of the whole class) was
78, 60, 60, 70, 75, 70, 60, 60 ,60… and whole VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE

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
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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
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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

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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
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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

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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
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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
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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…

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This was witten 75 days before the first of the

four sundays of september.
POSTED BY FOURSUNDAYSOFSEPTEMBER AT 12:37 AM
LABELS: BAR EXAMS

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