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Leachon <rachel.leachon@gmail.com>
Exercise 1 Online Clinic & Coaching on Bar Exam Answering Techniques
Ralph Sarmiento <attydeanralph@gmail.com> Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 1:52 PM
To: Rachel Leachon <rachel.leachon@gmail.com>
Welcome to my Online Clinic & Coaching on Bar Exam Answering Techniques.
I’ve been lecturing about Bar Answering Techniques in different Bar Review Centers since 2002. However, I
don’t think a 1day lecture on answering techniques really benefits students. Developing techniques requires
constant practice, critiquing and receiving feedback.
When I was a law student, I also benefited from this system of having a coach albeit in English only. After
every exam, I would have my English professor friend to critique my English over a cup of coffee. Through
that feedback system, I discovered that I had been committing a lot of mistakes in my grammar &
composition, and even in my spelling of a lot of words. If said mistakes had not been pointed out to me, I
would have continued committing them unaware.
So, with this program, I will try to help you identify any mistakes that you don’t know you’ve been
committing. To benefit from this, you have to keep an open mind, accept any mistake, and we’ll try to correct
them as we try to improve the way you answer essay questions.
Here are some HOUSE RULES & REMINDERS before we begin:
1. I'm reserving the EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to post, share and publish anything and everything I write
or share to you through this Online Clinic, Coaching and Mentoring.
2. All the emails I send you as well as those you send me as part of this Online Clinic, Coaching &
Mentoring shall be deemed privileged communication and correspondence. None of the said emails
or any portions of them shall be posted, shared, and or published in any manner or media
whatsoever without the permission of both parties, that is, you and me.
3. Take your time and just answer at your convenience and when you can really focus. There is no deadline
for the submission of answers. So don't be pressured to submit within a particular time.
4. In my case, I usually try to check & send my feedback the following day. However, as stated in the FAQs
at attyralph.com, during busy days like when I have outoftown lectures or when I have some pleading
deadlines to meet, it might take around five (5) “working” days before I could send my feedback.
Please also note that I normally don’t check on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays as I also need to
recharge and spend time with my family, so please exclude them in computing the 5 days maximum.
Moreover, in computing the period, please remember Art. 13, par. 3 of the Civil Code, which states: “In
computing a period, the first day shall be excluded, and the last day included.” The same rule is also applied
in computing the reglementary periods for pleadings.
5. If you don't receive my feedback right away, please don't resend your answer because it will become a
new email & it will go on top of my inbox. Since I check my emails based on the dates of receipt, so your
answer might be opened last.
6. I normally don’t reply to acknowledge receipt of answers, but if you don’t receive my feedback after five
(5) working days, please call my attention right away by text at 09209387440. The reason why I no longer
send an acknowledgment email is that if I open your email to acknowledge its receipt, it becomes a “read”
mail & I might forget to mark it again as an “unread” mail, so I might totally miss checking it.
7. After receiving the feedback on the previous exercise and the next exercise, do not immediately jump to
work on the next exercise. You must first study all the mistakes that I might point out in the previous
exercise, if there are any, and also the suggested answers. Do some practice while trying to avoid your
previous mistakes and applying what you have learned from the suggested answers and other comments.
Ideally, put a gap of several days to a week before working on the next exercise.
8. I usually email the next exercise immediately after sending my feedback on the previous one. So, if you
don't receive the next exercise after receiving my feedback on the previous one, please also call my
attention right away by text to 09209387440 because I might have overlooked it or there might have been
some network problem which prevented your receipt of the next exercise.
9. Please also note that I normally don’t reply to text messages during the weekends unless they are really
urgent.
10. If you think you have a problem with your handwriting & want me also to have a look at it, you may at
any time email me some samples of your handwriting like scanned copies of your previous exam booklets. If
you send me a sample of your handwriting and I find it acceptable, then there is no more need to send
another sample. But if I find some problems with your handwriting and give you some suggestions or
recommendations, then you have to work on them, and then you can send me another sample after you
have already made the necessary corrections or improvements.
11. Please note, however, that all our exercises should be typed directly on email or typed using Notepad or
another text editor. But please DO NOT attach an MS Word doc, docx, odt, pdf, txt, or any other file
format. Just copypaste the text into your email editor. Be honest with yourself as much as possible. Don’t
use the spellchecker & grammarcheck features of MS Word or other word processors. Otherwise, we will
not know what your mistakes are.
12. Alternatively, you may also answer the exercises in your own handwriting. You may do so on a booklet
or a composition notebook. However, you still have to give me a typed answer. So, you can just copy and
type your answer again on your email window. I need your typewritten answers to facilitate the checking
process. It enables me to easily insert comments anywhere, make the necessary corrections, and even to
rewrite some portions of your answer when necessary. As for your handwritten answer, if you want me to
check your handwriting, you may scan or take a photograph of it and send it to me by email. If you don’t
have a scanner, you can simply take a picture of it & send it to me by email.
13. Your GOAL in the twelve (12) exercises that we will have with this program is to be able to submit
answers that will have no corrections or negative feedback. It is perfectly okay to have mistakes or errors at
first, but you have to study each mistake or error I point out so you can avoid them in the subsequent
exercises. You know you are improving or doing alright when you no longer receive corrections or negative
feedback toward the last exercises.
14. Lastly, don't get offended by my negative comments or feedback. They can sometimes be brutal!
Sometimes, you need them as a wakeup call! They can also give you an idea of what could be playing in
the mind of an examiner while reading your answer. So, good luck!!
THE PROBLEM:
Instruction: Give yourself a maximum of 30 minutes for this problem. 30 minutes include the time in
reading and analyzing the problem and the time for writing your answer. You should answer in your own
words without looking at any notes. If after reading the problem, you think you are not ready for the topic
which involves knowledge of some fundamental rights, then feel free to do some research and readings first
about the Bill of Rights, and then just go back to this exercise at some other day. What is important is that
when you write your answer, you should not be looking at any notes and that you write in your own words.
In an attempt to curb rising rates of sex crimes and drugrelated offenses and other acts of violence,
Congress passed Republic Act No. 9090 entitled, “AN ACT TO ESTABLISH DNA NATIONWIDE DATABASE
SYSTEM AND Repository” with the following provisions:
Sec. 1. Any person convicted of or under prosecution for any crime in any court shall be required to submit a
DNA sample to any nurse or laboratory technician designated by the Bureau of Jail Management and
Penology, which DNA sample may be used for laboratory testing and analysis.
Sec. 2. “DNA (DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID) sample” shall refer to any bodily fluid or tissue sample
provided by any person convicted of a crime or being prosecuted in any court of justice submitted to the
nationwide DNA database system in the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for analysis pursuant to a
criminal investigation.
Sec. 3. The NBI shall establish a unit to collect, analyze, compile, and store DNA samples from the Bureau
of Jail Management and Penology nationwide, for the following purposes:
(a) To analyze and type the genetic markers contained in or derived from such samples:
i. In furtherance of an official investigation into a criminal offense, and may be used as evidence in any
court;
ii. To assist in the identification of human remains;
iii. To assist in the identification of missing persons; and
iv. To assist in the investigation of the paternity of Children in pending court cases.
(b) For research and administrative purposes, including —
i. Development of a population database nationwide after personal identifying information is removed;
ii. Support of identification research and protocol development of forensic DNA analysis methods; and
iii. Monitoring and tracking repeat offenders.
Sec. 4. The database and records compiled and collected by the NBI shall not be used for any purpose
other than those specified above, unless such use is expressly ordered by any court of justice and is
considered relevant to any fact in issue in any case pending before such court.
R.A. No. 9090 was signed into law on July 21, 2012, and was published in two national newspapers of
general circulation for two consecutive weeks.
Juan de la Cruz, a lawyer, married, with two children, and residing at Tondo, Manila, was convicted by the
Regional Trial Court of Manila of Violation of the AntiFencing Law of 1979 (P.D. No. 1612). This sentence
was affirmed by the Supreme Court last May 23, 2012, and he started servicing his sentence thereafter.
While he was serving sentence, he was asked to give his blood sample to a government nurse as the
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) had started implementing R.A. No. 9090.
He consulted his lawyer who told him to refuse the demand for his blood sample. It turns out that de la Cruz
is also a respondent in a disciplinary proceeding for disbarment being heard by the Integrated Bar of the
Philippines Commission on Bar Discipline on grounds of immorality. His mistress filed an administrative
complaint with the Supreme Court after he failed to give support to his love child who was born out of
wedlock after he got married. He did not acknowledge this child, and in his defense in the disciplinary action,
he vehemently denied that the child was his own. The hearing before the Commission is still going on. His
anxiety stems from the fear that the results of the analysis of his DNA sample might be used later in the
disciplinary case against him.
He followed his lawyer’s advice and refused to give a sample of his blood, claiming that he faints at the sight
of blood, even if it is his own. The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology issued a written directive
compelling de la Cruz to give a sample of his blood. De la Cruz appealed this directive to the Secretary of
the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Upon denial by the Secretary of the DILG of his appeal, he filed with the Regional Trial Court of Manila an
original petition for certiorari and prohibition with a prayer for a TRO and a writ of preliminary injunction
challenging the constitutionality of R.A. No. 9090. His petitions having been denied by the Regional Trial
Court and the Court of Appeals, De la Cruz now pursues his case in the Supreme Court.
In its deliberations, the Supreme Court identified the two (2) most important issues of the case in relation to
the grounds raised by de la Cruz against the constitutionality of R.A. No. 9090 and you were asked to be the
ponente.
Decide the case identifying and stating the two (2) important issues in this format, "Whether or
not..." and discuss the merits of the case relative to the grounds which must have been raised by De
la Cruz in his petition.
Thanks very much.
Please reply to confirm receipt of my first exercise.
Ralph A. Sarmiento
Mobile # +63 920 9387440
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"If you can't reduce your argument to a few crisp words and phrases,
there's something wrong with your argument."
~ M. Saatchi