New lawyers take oath, told to shun corruption

MANILA, Philippines - The 949 law graduates who passed last year’s Bar were told to shun corruption as they took their oath as new lawyers yesterday before the Supreme Court (SC).

In her address during the oath-taking ceremony at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno told the Bar passers to engage in a cultural revolution to change public perception of lawyers as corrupt, selfish, arrogant people. One of those sworn in as new lawyers is Sereno’s son Jose Lorenzo.

“It is of no small matter if each of you says it in your heart, that I will not be corrupt and I will not allow anyone to corrupt me,” she said.

“Stand your ground and do what is right,” she told the new lawyers.

Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr., who chaired the 2012 SC committee on the examinations, also called on the new lawyers to remain upright and humble.

“There is a higher law of government, the law of conscience,” he said in his address.

After signing the high court’s roll of attorneys, the successful Bar passers would officially become lawyers.

The SC released the results of the 2012 Bar Examinations in special full-court session last March 20.

The 949 who passed represented only 17.76 percent of the total of 5,343 law graduates who took the Bar examinations in October last year.

Ignatius Michael Ingles, a former football varsity player and graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University law school, topped the Bar with a rating of 85.64 percent. 

Meanwhile, a senior opposition lawmaker urged yesterday the country’s new lawyers to engage in more pro bono or free service and help improve the country’s judicial system.

Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, president of the Philippine Constitution Association, congratulated the 949 new lawyers who took their oath yesterday.

“Now that they are members of the bar, they will go along way in improving the judicial system by actively representing hopefully not just those who has the capability (to pay) but those fellow Filipinos who cannot afford (legal services),” Romualdez said.

“We hope that all of these new lawyers consider sending a little time doing pro bono work we really need that because there is a perception that the law only favors the rich,” he said.

Team PNoy senatorial candidate and Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara also congratulated the new lawyers and called for a review of legal education in the country.

“I hope you remain faithful to your oath that you will live by the canons of professional responsibility,” Angara said.

Angara, who obtained his law degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law and his Master of Laws degree from the Harvard Law School, also offered his unsolicited advice to the new lawyers.

“Law is not an end in itself. It is a means to attain other personal and societal goals like justice, fairness, equity, order, human development among others. I hope you can help in realizing these goals to build a better country for future generations,” he said.

He called on the Commission on Higher Education and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to look into the quality of legal education in the country as only a small percentage of the law graduates passed the bar.

“The declining performance of our law students in the Bar exams reflects the quality of legal education they are getting. We cannot allow substandard law schools to continue to waste the time and money of our students. Clearly, there is an urgent need for reforms to protect and uplift the law profession in the country,” he said. – With Paolo Romero