My Journey to become a lawyer

MARLO CAMPANILLA·THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020·5 MINUTES

During the early stage of my life, I had a speech disorder. I could not properly pronounce words
especially those with the letter “r” or “s”. I pronounced “asukal” as “atutay.” Sometimes, others even
called me “atutay, atutay.”

My first failure in my life is when I failed grade one at the Sacred Heart Academy in 1979. I noticed that
everyone was elevated to grade two except me. I repeated grade one in St. Anthony Nova School.
Nobody knew that I am a repeater except Marlon Braga, my classmate in Sacred Heart Academy. Having
in my mind the idea that I am intellectually weak, I developed an inferiority complex. I had no dreams to
become a professional. My life was always guided by the saying “easy-go-lucky.”

My inferiority complex continued when I was in high school at UST Pay High School. My academic
standing was a disaster. I was consistently attending summer classes at Metro Manila College High
School for failing subjects in UST. My father sarcastically asked me “Nasa college ka na ba? Bakit every
summer may summer class ka?” At the end of my third year, the principal personally informed me that I
have to transfer to another school. I was emotionally hurt with this bad news. But life must go on.

I transferred to NCBA High School in 1986 to complete my high school studies. In that school I did almost
all bad things such as cutting class, alcohol drinking, participating in rumble etc.

After graduation, my mother told me, “Anak, huwag ka na mag-college at alam naman natin na may
problema ka, mag-computer technician ka na lang.” I agreed with my mother. In fact, I was not
interested with my studies.

I enrolled in 1987 at STI Computer School for a computer technician course. STI was just a small-time
educational institution at that time. When my mother discovered that my schooling time in STI was only
two hours a day, and thus, I had plenty of times to be bad, she was left with no choice but to enroll me
at FEU, Political Science Department in the same year. Before they enrolled me in FEU, my brother,
Pearlito, asked me what college course I prefer to take. I told him, “Bahala ka na, wala akong alam
diyan.”

My extra-curricular activities especially drinking continued. When the nursing profession became in
demand in foreign countries including the USA in 1988, I decided to transfer from political science
course to nursing course. However, since my academic standing was not acceptable, FEU rejected my
transfer application.

When I reached third year college in 1989, two of my brothers were taking law in San Beda while my
sister was taking medicine in Manila Central University. I realized then that I might end up being a
personal driver of one of my siblings. For the first time in my life I dreamt of holding law books while on
board a passenger jeep. It was a weird dream since I could not even memorize our telephone number
and the birthdays of my relatives. But I was firmly determined to follow the footsteps of my father as a
lawyer.
To prepare myself in this journey, the first thing that I did was to read the newspapers aloud to cure my
speech disorder. At that time reading two to three sentences would cause me to swallow my saliva and
dry my mouth; thereafter, words that would come from my mouth are not anymore communicative.

Then I read my college English books. Since I could not understand these books, I bought an English book
with pictures written by an American writer. From that book, I discovered that “was” is past tense, “are”
is plural, and other grammatical rules that ordinary elementary pupils should know. I was a complete
ignorant in grammatical rules prior to my self-study of this book.

Then I started to read newspapers and write short essays out of them. After several months of self-
studies, I resumed my drinking habits and returned to my easy-go-lucky motto.

After graduation, I took the entrance exam in San Beda, College of Law. I flunked the exam. Luckily, the
result of my exam was reconsidered through the intervention of my brother Reynario, who is a Bedan
lawyer.

In San Beda, there were occasions that everybody including my professor would laugh after hearing my
recitation. I could not understand the language of law books. But I adopted 5 strategies to survive in the
college of law, to wit: read, read, read, read and read. I had to sleep four hours a day to implement my
strategies. But as expected, San Beda kicked me out for failure to meet their academic standard. I was
already in third year college, when the school of my two brothers decided to end its relationship with
me.

Failure is a part of my life. I am an exceptionally inferior person. When I was informed of my unfortunate
academic situation in San Beda, I immediately recalled when Scared Heart Academy and UST Pay High
School found me unsatisfactory. I was emotionally devastated as a hopeless dreamer.

I transferred to University of the East, College of Law. They adopted me as their own. They welcomed
me with open arms. But before I departed from San Beda, I made a strong and decisive statement to my
classmates. I told them “I will not and I will never fail this bar examination.”

Determination is important in surviving in the college of law and passing the Bar examination. Read,
read, read, read and read are the only strategies that I have. I passed the 1995 Bar Examination. I am a
first taker, and I am proud of it.