‘Lex Ad Bonum Publicum’ upgraded

ON April 6, 2024, I was given the honor of addressing my college, the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) College of Law, as an inspirational speaker at the Juris Doctor conferment ceremony.

As I was thinking of the importance of this ceremony and what I would like to share with the attendees, the word that came to mind was “upgraded.” In a world where businesses and practitioners try to get the most out of their clients, hearing the message, “Sir/Madam, your seat/ ticket/item has been upgraded,” is music to our consumeristic ears.

Of course, an upgrade does not always come to us for free. Most of the time, it is given for a cost. I do not mind paying for a little bit more so long as what is expected in return will be significantly more valuable than what was previously had.

For example, we do not mind buying an additional piece of clothing as long as it is either on sale or there is a buy one, take one promo. It doesn’t matter if we have complete supplies and items at home. As soon as we see a sale, we immediately add it to the cart.

However, in reality, the best kind of upgrade is those that you actually get for free. Examples are when you suddenly receive premier tickets to a basketball championship game or a concert from a random person outside who suddenly decided to give away their tickets. Now, suddenly, you are elevated from mingling among mortal men, as you are now called to join the ticket gods who have just blessed you with a seat 10 times more valuable than your original economy seat. Scenarios like this would make you feel like you won the lottery.

This is the same experience for those with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) who were upgraded to Juris Doctor (JD).

PLM lawyers are the kind of lawyers who are expected to have strong and upright characters. These lawyers are smart enough to go to any top-notch law school, but due to budgetary constraints at the time, they opted to study instead in the best public interest law school, the PLM College of Law. A school that often sees full and partial scholars and where students are looked after by its staff. A school wherein students survive through photocopies of books, even if that is a copyright violation against their professor’s books.

PLM law students are persevering to the max because we can hold government employment while acing it in school. We can face government and public service in the day and face our tormenting professors at night. Some even incur debt just to finish their degree. One thing is for sure: PLM Law graduates are no quitters and are, in fact, overcomers.

Let us remember the struggles and sacrifices we gave and those given to us by the people who supported and believed in our dreams. Let us endeavor, alongside this degree, to raise the level of our service to the public, to our profession, and to our generation. May the conferment of the Juris Doctor upon us lead us to aspire to make broken lives whole, those susceptible to injustice protected, and those new breed of PLM lawyers inspired through our example and principled living.

There will be challenges ahead, but let us remember that public service and service, in general, are worth the struggle. Recently, a bishop friend of mine in the Christian community, Bishop Ferdie Cabiling of Every Nations International Ministry or Victory, passed away. He once said, “The door of opportunity swings upon the hinges of opposition.”

Public service and service for the public interest is indeed a wide door of opportunity for us PLM lawyers and law graduates, as we have been instilled by the natural tendency of our institution to make the law work for the public interest.

The majority of the law students of PLM today are still with different government institutions, and I know this as I am currently part of the faculty. The tradition of the “Law for the Public Interest” is carried on today by our beloved law school as it continues to shape and train the minds of public servants with the use and application of the law, thus leading them to better perform their service to the public.

To my fellow alumni, who had once been benefited by our beloved college, I believe we all have a moral responsibility to give back and ensure that our PLM Law school will continue to succeed to produce the kind of public servant and lawyers that the Filipino people deserve.

May we not forget the time when we were still struggling to make ends meet just to ensure that we would one day become lawyers of top caliber. It was our PLM Law school that was there for us, guiding us and teaching us until we reached our final destiny.

Now that we have reached the finish line, it is time to give back. It is time to reach out to our college and ensure that we will not only have excellent lawyers but also great men and women who shall apply the law for the public interest.

I can see the day coming when the bar exams will be dominated by PLM law students. But this would not have happened without the help and participation of those who have already benefited from this institution.

It is with great pride for us to say that we now have as our dean Atty. Mel Arbuladura, a fellow PLM alumnus who is up and ready to face the great challenge of raising and upgrading the level of our PLM College of Law.

May the conferment be a reminder that we are not just getting this wonderful gift of an upgrade from LLB to JD, but that we are receiving this with a cost and a burden of upgrading ourselves and services to the people, our families, and to our PLM College of Law.

Let us recommit to our mantra “Lex Ad Bonum Publicum,” or law for the public interest. Let us upgrade our level of influence, upgrade our level of practice, and upgrade our legal practice for the interest of the people. Mabuhay mga PLMayers and let us see an upgraded Lex Ad Bonum Publicum.