Ona is Uno

It’s a girl! And it’s not only one of them, there are NINE of them in the Top 12 of the highest ranking passers of the latest bar examinations. Media reports on the newly released results of what has been described as one of the toughest examinations given by the Supreme Court in the past eight years, said only three out of the Upper Dozen among the successful examinees were men, the rest, from the topnotcher, were women.

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Heading the list was Mercedita Ona from the Ateneo de Manila who proved herself to be Numero Uno (Number One) despite the fact that, as she herself said, she had only hoped to pass, nothing more. Indeed, the grades of the passers were not as high as in previous bar tests, but Number One is Number One, however you look at it. It was also disclosed that the officials in charge of the examinations had to lower the passing grade, otherwise, there would have been more casualties than the almost 80 percent that was registered.

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I recall that there had also been a time when the SC had to reconsider and reduce the passing grade so that those who had failed were pulled up. That was the time when people dubbed those who passed through the concession the “Flunker lawyers”. But since the authorities themselves had granted the reduction, those who got lower than 75, but not below 70, will be sworn in among the newest crop of lawyers in the country come April 29.

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Bacolod City is proud to be the home of two of the topnotchers. Both the second and the third placers are from this city: Jennifer Ong and Yvanna Maalat. Although they studied in Manila schools, Jennifer at the U.P and Yvanna at Ateneo, they are products of local schools, where they must have formed their study habits. Congratulations to them, and to their proud parents! I’m sure the local chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines is preparing a grand welcome for their new and distinguished members.

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I wonder how many others noticed the placement of stories and headlines in the Daily Inquirer yesterday. Right under the four-column headline saying: “Ray of Hope for women behind bars in Davao” were the pictures of the women had topped the bar examinations. Of course that was only a coincidence, but it is something that could make lay-out designers very red in the face. The women are among those who grabbed nine of the top places, leaving the men only three, starting from the fifth place. What’s the matter boys?

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A group of lawyers who have asked the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional the granting of the abominable pork barrel to senators and congressmen, are now complaining because their petition has not been acted on until now. They claim that they first filed it five years ago, and are only following it up now. It’s a worthy petition, but do they really think the Supreme Court will listen to them? They only have to look at its decision on the “executive privilege” affair to realize what the future of their petition will be.

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The same is likely to be the fate of the bill being pushed by Congressman Roilo Golez who is seeking the removal from the President of the authority to appoint justices of the Supreme Court. Malacañang has dismissed it as a political gimmick, and I won’t be surprised if either secretary Eduardo Ermita or Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye tells Golez, “Wish mo lang”. How will Roilo Golez push it through all his colleagues in the House known to be beholden to, if not captive of Malacañang?

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Look at former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, now a United Nations official also named to the post by the President. Even from that distance, he is being quoted by Malacañang in defense of the “executive privilege” decision. How could Davide say otherwise? Having a different stance is former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban who writes a column for the Daily Inquirer where he talks of such phenomena as the Marcos Supreme Court, and a possible Arroyo Supreme Court. Congressman Golez may be on the right track, but, alas, he ahs a lot of insurmountable obstacles in his path.*

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