MY TESTIMONIAL SPEECH

Take it from someone who never really studied hard in law school, but decided to LEARN
THE LAW BY HEART and pour her heart and soul onto it.

Cause’ from the moment she saw her baby hair stuck in between the pages of her father’s
Old ObliCon book, she knew she was meant to be one.

This is not just her father’s dream which also became hers, neither her family’s nor their
village’s – this is her destiny.

~~

That was the night before the expected release of the 2022 Caguioa Bar Examinations when
I challenged myself to finish my testimonial speech in hopes – in genuine hopes – that my
name and my friends and classmates’ names would be on the list by April 14, 2023.

Times like those will place you at that breaking point of uncertainty, excitement and
acceptance – well, at least for me.

Days before that, I encountered a post while scrolling my Facebook. In that post was a
question, “what are you willing to give up in order to become a lawyer?” In the comments’
section, some answered their other dreams, their love lives, their fears. But to me, it was
more of a rhetorical question rather than a personal one.

I did not have answers; but I have a story to tell.

I took a year off after graduating college to take my board exams. I told my father that when
and if I pass the PHILSAT, I would enrol in UPang Law by June, 2018.

During my 1st year, I juggled between work and law school and other extracurricular
activities like stan twitter, korean dramas and wattpad.

My father, who had long been wishing for his daughter to be a lawyer, did not give me a
heads up that I should be reading books and digests ahead of lectures. I was ONLY brave
enough to come in class without a single reading, and brave enough to completely fabricate
what civil personality is, before the Atty. Michael Datario.

I failed some of my midterm examinations that year: my Constitutional Law 1 where I scored
45 points? and Criminal Law 1 with only 40. I kept on making excuses for myself that I am
still in my adjustment period, that I am a socially awkward person who tends to stutter during
recits – and the fact that I am lazy.

It was a bad start, I even dropped a minor subject only to regret it afterwards.
~~

The succeeding years were less painful since I knew I was doing better. My perspective of
law began to change gradually and drastically. It’s like falling in love with your archnemesis.
The love-hate relationship that either ends up badly or in long lasting marriage.

But of course my social anxiety is still there. My laziness is still there. What really happened
to me is a constant battle of reasons to give up and reasons to keep going. Thankfully, the
latter won.

Noong huling taon ko sa law school, alam ko nang may problema ang pag-graduate ko. May
naiwan akong minor subject na pwede lang kunin ng first semester. Ma’am Kath encouraged
me to write a letter asking the dean and the registrar to allow me to take additional units.
Hindi ako pinayagan ng Registrar dahil sa Conflict of Schedule. Sinubukan ko rin kung
pwede mag-cross enrol sa ibang law school, pinag-aralan ko pa iyong LEB Memo kung ano
iyong mga exceptional circumstance kung kelan pwedeng mag-cross enrol, pero ayaw
talaga ng Upang.

I had no choice but to accept that I wouldn’t be able to graduate along with my friends and
batchmates.

I know in my heart, there is a reason why. And the reason is yet to be revealed.

Then came 2nd semester of my last year, Ma’am Kath encouraged me again to write a letter
to the dean and to the Registrar na gawin na lang tutorial iyong minor subject ko para lang
maka-graduate ako since the subject will no longer be offered the following school year.

In the end, I was able to graduate when I least expected to.

After graduation, we enrolled at one of the well-named review centers in the country. The
lectures, notes and mock bars were online so we could study at our own pace. I filed for a
resignation on April, 2022 kasi alam ko kailan kong mag-review ng full time pero hindi ako
kaagad pinayagan sa trabaho dahil hirap rin makahanap ng kapalit iyong employer ko.

After resignation, hindi pa ako ulit nakapag-full time review kasi buong June ay umekstra pa
ako ulit kasi alam kong hindi pa sapat ang ipon ko. I told my parents that preparing for the
bar also requires financial stability, inasmuch as I would want to help with the expenses.

Nag-umpisa lang akong makapag-full time review around July of last year, only four months
to spare.

During my review, I wrote the first part of this speech; at that time, I was no longer afraid of
failing. What I was more afraid of is not finishing those four gruelling days of mental,
emotional, physical and financial strain.

That month was also the hardest one for my friend. And I am thankful that she is here
listening to me right now.
When she told me, she will finish the bar.. I know in myself that I can, too. She honestly
became one of my inspirations to continue for there is nothing more painful than losing a
loved one during those tough times.

The days went on until we were weeks away, Paeng came. Aaminin ko isa rin ako sa
umaasa ng postponement. My reason: I thought it could buy us more time to prepare.

I was wrong.

The bar exams pushed through.

It was November 9, 2022, I was quietly humming a kpop song to whisk away my anxiety. My
friends and I were uttering a silent prayer. And once when we arrived at the school, Atty.
Mike Datario, Ma’am Kath and the entire UPang Bar Operations team were already there.
Their presence and cheers solidified our confidence, especially then that our family wasn’t
there yet to send us off.

As I fixated my eyes on the blinking cursor of a blank password box, I kept on praying and
whispering to myself.. That I will pass this Caguioa Bar exam. I will be a Caguioa
Lawyer.

And although there has been a room for doubts, those four years, four months and four days
of my life became a one core memory to which I would always look back to. Regardless of
what I gained, a couple of loss or what I lost, a strandful of hair.

My weight gain and alopecia did not stop me from becoming a lawyer, more so that small
voice inside my head saying “You’ll never reach it.”

~~~

Today, I am determined to send my sincerest thanks to those of you who made me a lawyer.
To all of my professors in law school, to the dean, to Ma’am Kath, to my classmates, and to
my friends and to anyone.. your single presence reverberated into ripples that touched me in
a way.

Thank you for all being a part of this humbling journey.

I am grateful to have you all here as my, our witnesses and contributors in our Bittersweet
victory.

May we all not FORGET THE VERY REASON – why we are all here, and that is… to HELP
AND INSPIRE OTHERS to WIN AS WELL.

~~