Sunday, July 29, 2007

life is a story of betrayal and fealty. it's all about politics.
money, fame and fortune.

it is about friendship, brotherhoor and sisterhood.

now, the wheel of karma has turned.

nobody hurts my friends...

and nobody betrays me...

Remember me, I am Rommel Bernardo.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I AM BETRAYED.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

updates

finished with criminal laws. technically...

now starting with what else... Remedial Law.

If there are two things in this planet that I'm good at... it's Tax and Remedial Law.

And I hope they can save me.

Friday, July 20, 2007

beer and valium...

a different kind of high. a bit dangerous though. hehehehe.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

I do not enjoy attending the services in my hometown parish. First of all, the parish priest is boring. Second, the adjutant priest has an annoying and disturbing timbre in his voice. Third, the services contain more prayers not included in the official rite. Fourth, their sermons insult my intelligence.

I know my theology and catechism, however, I also know my philosophy, metaphysics and positive law. How can the people stand them?! The local church is becoming retrogressive rather than progressive. Soon, people will be driven away unless and until the time the priests are changed. It’s not a matter of doctrine, but a matter of management. People should stop listening, but rather start thinking for themselves. Your priests don’t decide your salvation, but rather it is you.

Well, I can blame them if I heard better homilies from the Dominican Fathers, since they are trained to do it, that’s why they’re called the Sagrada Orden de Predicadores. Even the Spaniards can convey messages despite the difficulty in English translation.

Reach out priest, don’t shove them away.

****************

On the other hand, the Human Security Act should be put to the test, and it will be CJ Puno’s greatest masterpiece if he becomes the ponente of the decision. I have read the law, and although it has many safeguards, it can be still be found void under the Strict Scrutiny Test concurrent with the Overbreadth and Void for Vagueness doctrine. Liberty is at stake people. Then again, proponents of the law may make use of the Dangerous Tendency or Balancing of Interest Rule, considering that the present situation is different 10 years ago as regards national security.

In 1991, the Writ of Amparo was just a legend, it was speculated that it was probably named after a Beauty Queen, however, it originated from Mexican Laws, and came from the Spanish noun “Amparar” which means “to protect against”. It is said to be more powerful than the Writ of Habeas Corpus, or perhaps even the Writ of Certiorari. Now, Justice Azcuna’s killer question in the 1991 Bar Exams, which is only once a mythical creature in legal contemplation, might now become a reality under our jurisdiction.

The Question is, where do you put Amparo? It may either be placed under Rule 65 as a Special Civil Action, or under the Rules on Special Proceedings. I would prefer that it be placed under the Rules on Special Proceedings, since jurisdictionally, the Regional Trial Courts implement these rules.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

relapse

flu relapse. had to run yesterday to the doctor, fearing for something worse like dengue. apparently not.

doctor's prescription: bed rest and avoid stress. (plus the fancy anti-stress vitamins and cough medicine)

yeah right... as if I can avoid STRESS.

had my lung x-ray too. still clean.

now, i must stay at home for a few more days. no review classes. self-review muna while snuggling cozily in bed or at the couch.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

officially ending commercial law, though i haven't really absorbed anything.

now officially starting on Criminal Laws.

Yesterday, I was totally irritated by the presence of three, or sometimes four bodyguards looking around the Bar Review area, as if we were all suspicious looking KGB agents, or even Chinese Triad gangsters. Well, putting things unto the scales, our Lecturer has plenty to fear for, since it was reported that his house got rained on with bullets, as he was handling a high-profile case. I won't mention his name, but by the rule of idem sonam, his surname is similar to that of another well known lawyer. Poor him.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

i'm almost done with commercial law. (well, i hafta skip some parts. second to civil law, it's the longest) and I'm about to start with Criminal Law. Just on time. Hopefully.

Can't wait 'till it's over. Then it would be a time to splurge for a while and think of career choices. Some of which are:

1. Join the Public Attorney's Office.
2. Join the Office of the Solicitor General.
3. Apply at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
4. Corporate Counsel for large banks. (going to Atty. Divina's direction, perhaps)
5. Private practice with Punongbayan and Araullo (they're hiring for junior associates, mostly tax experts. though I don't outrightly claim to be one, I can learn more aside from the law school stuff, plus it's lucrative, and I can work it to my advantage in the future.)
6. Administer the family business while practicing in private.
7. Enter into a business partnership.
8. Buy real estate at auction sales and resell them again. (Capital gains only, no profits involved, mostly. I ain't CREBA.)
9. Take up my M.B.A. at AIM or at The Ateneo.
10. Well, whatever goes by.

This is all subject of course to the condition that I pass the Bar. Then, I guess, that would be the proper time to think of the future. And the things to consider are, to wit: 1.) the lucrative nature of the work or enterprise; 2.) public service; 3.) more net profits, more tax exemptions and deductions, less expenses; 4.) over-all "happiness and satisfaction" ratings; 5.) socio-economic and political weather.

Labels:

I'm Bar Examinee No. 2603.
I hope when I return on August to the Supreme Court, I'll be allowed to take the Bar with no problems.

Labels:

Saturday, July 07, 2007

SUPREME MISADVENTURE

It has been almost a week and my body isn’t healing as fast as it used to. I have the seasonal influenza. But as I have observed in the past, it only took me 3 days to completely recuperate. But now, I’m still totally bogged down. I have all ailments of the upper respiratory orifices. Colds, cough and sore throat. Plus that nasty fever that won’t go away. Because of that, I was impelled to halt my readings for officially three days now. I am on my fourth subject, mercantile law, and I only finished Corporation Law, Securities Regulations, Banking and Special Commercial Laws. I haven’t yet breezed through Negotiable Instruments, Insurance and Transportation. In fact, I haven’t officially terminated my readings in Civil Law, since I still have Obligations and Contracts and Sales left.

Barely seven weeks left, I still need to study Criminal Laws, Remedial Law and Legal Ethics. I have to make certain adjustments in my daily routine (which means removing badminton from it).

Now, yesterday afternoon, we were attending jack jimenez’ lecture in insurance and SPCL, when we heard the news that our petitions were already notarized and available at the Legal Aid Clinic. So we got it and returned to class. Around 3:30 pm, someone suggested that we file it already, anyways, we can make it to Padre Faura before five o’ clock. Someone of us were hesitant, including me, but alas, I go where my friends go. So, the six of us, boarded the van with the 16*OSG plate number, the driver of which, called up his father-justice of the Court of Appeals and asked for a parking slot in the Court of Appeals. Traffic along España and Quiapo was like the usual Quiapo day chaos. We were doing our annexes inside the van while laughing that any error in writing due to the vehicular movement might cause the dismissal of our petition.

4pm. We just arrived at U.N. Avenue. All the lights in sight were green. And we joked that it was a good omen. We even saw a naked taong grasa in the middle of Quiapo Bridge and took that as a good omen.

Comes now the corner of Faura and Taft. Hell. The go signal only lasts three seconds! It was 4:15 already! Prior to that, we called up the office of the Bar Confidant and asked at around what time does it close. It said around 4:30pm.

After snailing through the traffic in Faura, we reached the gates of the Supreme Court. No time to park the van. I immediately went down and asked the security (FYI: you don’t call them ‘security guards’ in the layman’s sense, since these people are either police forces or military men, or at least trained by the government.) (FYI again: come to think of it, it reminded me of that instance when Capt taught me how to do the ‘neck’ breaking trick in the movies, and it is fatal… and I ain’t telling how to do it! Hahaha!) if we can go in. Courteously, he said that cashier closes at four p.m. That means, that even though the bar confidant still holds office until 4:30pm, we cannot file our petitions until we paid our filing fees. (Basic rule in Civil Procedure, Sunlife Assurance vs. CA… I think)

And so, it was our first taste of “Technicality”. And technicality means so much to us. It means the difference between life and death. We went back to UST frustrated, but laughing so hard as we made fun of ourselves, imagining things like what if we were featured by Mike Enriquez for the primetime news for something like: “Anim na Barrista, nag-amok sa Korte Suprema” and things like that.

The Bar-Ops committee had generously offered to do the filing, but we believe that it should be our own act. The act of filing is so symbolic to us that somehow this means that this is the first ever document that you will be submitting to the Supreme Court of the Philippines, and you don’t want anything wrong happening to it, you want everything to be perfect, you want to savor the moment. It is part of the long and arduous journey towards the uninviting portals of the Supreme Court and the Bar.

So, to appease us, I treated the guys to an 18 inch New York’s finest before we called it a day. Like what JV said, it was our break from the monotony of our lives as barristers. A ‘picnic’ in the twisted sense.

Now, I pray that this fever would ward off me so that I can resume my unholy transitory existence.

Labels:

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

To the bravest and strongest woman I've ever known my entire life... you will endure all these things that you are facing right now... I'm always with you.

Ode to the Length of Days

One can take only so much suffering as would heaven permit tears fall from one's eyes to the earth,
and salt between the lips, and bitter bile gushing through the heart
beaten, broken, but unsurrendering to circumstances
for the end of this phase of the journey towards the next
in the realm of demigods and earthly immortals.
One can only take so much bitterness as hell would permit fiery fury upon the earth and raze heaven to the ground, thrusting,
with intense heat
bursting with extreme cold
feeling nothing more than silence, and hearing nothing more than darkness
only to see the womb open up to the light of immaculate dawn tainted with oblations of human blood
only in its purest state.
souls traveling towards the denying road, unwelcoming, unsoothing
souls washed with blood
sweat and
tears.
drenched with hope
"read me, as if though I was absent."
In my mind, it is as if Ophelia, met Pablo.

Labels: