Low Profile UP Law Alumni Doing High Impact Civic Work
It’s hard to listen to the radio or read the news without encountering the name or face of a high-profile UP Law alumni. Whether its Serafin Cuevas or Lorna Kapunan, Harry Roque or Frank Drilon, many UP lawyers and the positions they hold, or the sensational cases or famous clients they handle, are press favorites. But there are several law graduates from the state university who manage to fly under the radar (more or less) despite the deep impact of their work.
Charlie Yu is the chairman of the ERDA Group of Foundations that was established by Fr. Pierre Tritz, S.J. many years ago for the purpose of helping the country’s poorest of the poor. Much of the work of ERDA today is focused on street children, with a special emphasis on providing education or "life skills" for those who are qualified yet deprived of the means to do so. “Over a year ago, we asked some students in ERDA Tech why they were in the library during lunch break, “recounts Yu. “Their answer? - `It is not our day to eat lunch today. Today is for another sibling. Our schedule for lunch is the next day.’ With such answers, we know that there is still so much for us to do for these children. “ERDA currently has over 24,000 beneficiaries enrolled in different levels of education all over the country, and since its establishment has helped over 600,000 indigent children.
Meanwhile JB Baylon, while quite well known for his columns and support of Philippine basketball, is a bit less known as the president of the PGH Medical Foundation, Inc., an organization connected with the Philippine General Hospital. PGH is the nation’s largest charity hospital, and receives over 600,000 patients a year -- one patient a minute, almost all of them indigent. Despite having been the training ground for some of the country’s – and even the world’s – best medical professionals, PGH is in constant need of support and assistance, as do the thousands who flock to the institution seeking medical attention. Patients waiting for rooms, lie for hours in the emergency room on stainless steel cots, or on benches in the small admitting office. One UP College of Medicine graduate recounts how a patient, a public schoolteacher who couldn’t afford constant dialysis or a kidney transplant, simply decided to go home to die, rather than consume the family’s small savings on extending his life for a few weeks. “That ‘s why I launched I amPGH,” says Baylon. “It is a search for one million Filipinos who wish to be counted as a Person Giving Hope to the patients of PGH. It is anchored on the belief that even ordinary people like us can help in securing that second chance in life they hope for.”
Carol Mercado, on the other hand, is Vice-Chair of the Food For the Hungry Foundation, a non-profit that provides daily meals to malnourished children and elderly in urban poor areas throughout the Philippines. One of the beneficiaries of the Foundation’s work is ChildHaus, a sanctuary for indigent and terminally ill children (with cancer and other lifethreatening diseases) who come to Manila from far-flung provinces. “They go to Manila as a last resort because their affliction is something that is either beyond the ken of provincial hospitals or simply due to overcrowding in these public hospitals,” says Mercado. “Children find solace at ChildHaus where they are housed, fed, and given medicines. It is bad enough that one has to face the challenge of overcoming a major disease but what is even more challenging is the fact that one doesn’t have the resources to enable themselves to get proper medical care. “
Perhaps there is no one with a lower profile than Eileen Fajardo whose approach to supporting social interests. Required a more radical life choice After passing the Bar, Eileen joined the order of the Sisters of Charity, the religious order founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, taking on the name of Sr. Eufracia. The order cares for abandoned children and the elderly.
These UP Law alumni are all members of Class `88, the silver jubilarian and host class for the 2013 UP Law Alumni Homecoming. The batch has chosen as its homecoming theme , “Ang Treseng Tanong Para sa Mga Taga UP Law” to emphasize the need for the legal community to constantly engage in self-assessment and recommit to the institution’s values. ERDA, I am PGH and Child Haus, together with the UP College of Law, are UP Law Class `88’s principal beneficiaries for the homecoming activities. Early this year, the batch had already made donations to the Sisters of Charity, PGH, and the Davao typhoon victims with the help of another batchmate, Lindy Carillo. Class `88 also continues to raise funds to establish scholarships for underprivileged but gifted law students, and hope to set up these grants this year.
Class `88 has been able to count on the generous support of such companies as AMA, Picar, Smart, San Miguel, ResortsWorld. Megaworld, Emperador Distillers, Empire East, Vista Land, Security Bank, SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan, Picazo Buyco Fider Tan & Santos, GT Capital Holdings, Global Business Power, First Metro Investment Corporation, and the Sofitel Manila.
The homecoming gala will be on November 12, 2013 -- 11.12.13 – at Sofitel Manila. (For ticket information, interested alumni can call Ricky Ongkiko at 9823500.)