The whole class were all smiles—they like that description. They are not yet lawyers, but they are being built to become one. Every start of a new semester, I try to dissolve any remaining doubts that my students might still have, wondering if they made the right decision getting into the college of law.
“Law is not difficult. The study of law is not difficult,” I launched my pep talk, “the only thing about studying law is that it will WEAR YOU DOWN.”
“I brought with me your course outline, please get a copy and pass on the rest to your neighbor,” I said as I handed over the thick bundle of Xerox copies to the first student in front, a shy (I thought!) young girl with eyeglasses that I estimated were even thicker than mine.
“We’ll take one copy each, sir?”
“You can take two, if you have multiple personality disorder, yes,” the whole class laughed, a little bit nervously.
“You can see that you will have to read and digest about 200 cases. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes to read each case and anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to summarize each one. So be sure to budget your time well,” I advised.
“Is that true sir? Does it really take only 10 minutes to read the whole case but a full hour to chop it into a fraction of that whole? Is that logical?” the girl said.
This girl is trouble, my instinct told me. She reminded me of Miss Deema Niwala from the previous semester, sharp as a razor blade, if you try to handle her you’ll bleed from a hundred cuts.
“What’s your name there, little Miss Muffet?” I asked.
“Sir, I’m Ursula Bahag-hari, single, I attended baccalaureate in Presidio San Nicholas and I’m from Valenzuela, Bulacan!” she turned towards her classmates as she raised both her hands—and her voice pitch—before taking a bow.
Great. I have a candidate for the Binibining Pilipinas in my class. But I decided to just humor her, “Okay, Miss Bulacan, now for the talent portion…can you tell your classmates what subject this is and what you think this is all about?”
“Classmates, we are enrolled in Constitutional Law II, a very important subject that comes after Constitutional Law I which will further consolidate our understanding of the basic concepts that we learned in ‘Introduction to Law,” Miss Ursula said.
“You don’t have any idea, do you?”
“No, sir, that’s why I’m enrolled in your class!” the bubbly girl said. I could have sworn she didn’t look bubbly at all the first time I laid eyes on her.
“There are a lot of fine law schools in Manila, Miss Ursula. What happened, did they all reject you?”
“No, sir, I only applied here in Baguio. It’s my personal choice even though both my parents are UP alumni,” she said.
“Yes, I thought your unique surname sounded familiar. Give my regards to Pañero Butch but tell your father I said you are not going to get any special considerations in my class because of him.”
“Oh, no, he said you would say THAT sir. I thought that was really intriguing so now I’m here,” the bespectacled motormouth said. I’m not so sure if I blushed.
“Well, thank you for choosing to study here in Baguio rather than Manila over that little bit of trivia you dad said about me,” I said.
“Oh, I’m sorry, sir, THAT wasn’t my reason why I chose Baguio”
“Of course,” I backpedaled, quickly wiping off a big stupid grin on my face, “I’m sure you must have a really meritorious cause.”
“You see, sir, I considered San Beda Alabang campus, but from Valenzuela where I live, it’s about three and a half hours through NORMAL traffic. I leave at 5:30 a.m. I would arrive in Alabang at 9. That is just absurd. I drove all the way up to Baguio in the same amount of time, stopping for coffee along the way in three wonderful places!”
“Oh, great,” I moaned, “first there was eco-tourism, now there’s study-tourism. What’s next, people from Manila coming up here to get a manicure?”
“Now that you mentioned it, sir—“
“Shut up,” I said, sending the whole class bursting in guffaw. Then I saw something I used to see a lot with my old Alpha Class, people high-fiving each other over absolutely nothing.
I banged the blackboard—the first time this semester—“Focus, people, focus! Now I want you to read the first ten cases and then I want you to follow the news on what’s happening in Congress right now. There’s a new proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution again. So we have no time to waste. I want us to be able to study the unique and noble character of our nation’s highest law, or at least as much of it as we can before we wake up one day and realize it has been replaced by another one that sucks twice as much.”
“May I suggest that we submit a reaction paper on that, sir?” Miss Ursula butted in.
The whole class shouted, “SHUT UP!!!!”*
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